Cristina's Life!

What is your initial oppinion of a Christian? Be honest.

I remember before I was a Christian I thought other Christians were fake, slutty, hypocrits, rude, liars--the list can go on and on. I thought they were everything they claimed they shouldn't be and in all honesty, a lot of them are. I used to think, "Why would I ever want to be a Christian? SO I could be a hypocrit like those girls who claim to be christians and get drunk and have sex with new guys every weekend? Pff. I would never do that." There were so many bad examples of people who said they were Christians around me at school.. at work.. even in the church! I was disgusted by them. I was always someone who wanted to be real, I wan't going to play around and pretend to be something I wasn't. I wasn't going to be a Christian so I could be under the same label as all those fakes.

That's what I used to think anyways.

I remember Christians would tell me, "Oh! Jesus has changed me so much! I am so different then I used to be and I know I couldn't have changed like this all on my own!"

I would think it was so silly when they said that; I thought they were lying to me, until I experienced an enormous change in my life too.

Let me paint you a picture of myself about... a year to two years ago.
(Hope my mother doesn't get mad, but here it goes).

I liked to drink, I liked to smoke weed, I liked doing drugs (not that I did a lot of them.. but what difference does it make?). I didn't care if I lied to my mom, I didn't care if I lied to my teachers. I encouraged my friends to lie to their parents so we could do what we wanted. I thought music was the most important thing, I thought it was way more important than my own family. I was into tarrot cards and getting my palm read. I was rude to people who loved me. I didn't care if I hurt your feelings or if I made you feel bad because of something I said. I was invovled in things that I should have never done. I didn't respect anyone. I was nice to people I hardly knew, but I was rude to people that were closest to me. I just didn't care. I did what I wanted and that's all that mattered to me. I disliked almost everyone and I really didn't care whether I lived or died at a time in my life.

I was really different compared to who I am today.

I started to do research on whether I believed God existed about.. 9 months ago--no, 10 months ago. I started to come to conclusions that God and Jesus could be very real. I started dating Michael. I said I was a Christian when I started dating him, but I wasn't a Christian yet, I was still doing research. Michael met the old me and thats who he liked. Over the summer I had a lot of time to do a lot of research so I started growing in faith that there really was a God. My knowledge of Him was continuing to grow everyday. I still wasn't a Christian though, even though I claimed I was. As I started learning things I thought, "Maybe I should change some things about myself because I don't feel right doing them anymore." I had that thought in my head for a while, but I would ignore it. Then I became a Christian in.. I'm guessing August or September. Now, I didn't change just dramatically over night--that's silly, but I did change a lot. I stopped doing anything illegal, I also respected my mom and family a lot more because I could see all the things I took for granted that they did for me. I guess I can't really describe to you every change that occurred from the time I slowly started realizing there was a God, but just by speaking with me, if you knew the old me, could tell that I have changed. I've been told many times that I'm a lot different than I used to be--people just get a better vibe from me.

I'm not here to say that now that I am a christian I am so perfect and angelic now, because that would be a complete lie, but I can say that I am a better person than who I used to be. The old Cristina died and the new one lives now. Maybe that sounds weird? Haha, but I am not the old me anymore, and I like that. I like the new me much better because I am much happier and even though there are a lot of fake people who claim to be Christians we shouldn't look at them and complain about how fake they are like I used to because they aren't the example (they SHOULD be, but they can disqualify themselves). Jesus Christ is our one true example of what it's like to be a Christian. He was not a hypocrit so we can learn from His perfect ways. :)

Just in case I sort of confused you about when I was saying I claimed to be a Christian but I wasn't: In order to be a Christian you have to just put your complete trust in Him that He did die on the cross to pay for all your sins (past, present, and future) and that is the only way you are saved and go to Heavan. You have to trust that it is not by the good things you do that can get you into Heavan, but just the simple faith that you put in Jesus Christ as your Savior.---I hadn't done that til September so thats why I only claimed to be a Christian.

Not all Christians are fake, but we are human too and we stumble. Just don't forget that.