Come to Me
Erika’s Story
Christianity is something that I have been exposed to my entire life. However, what it means to truly be a Christian or more specifically what it means to be a Christ-Follower has been a sweet adventure on the road we call life.
I come from a grounded Christian family. As a young girl, my family and I would attend church services on Sunday and would go to a “youth-group” gathering for elementary school-aged kids called Awanas on Wednesday nights. I remember asking the Lord to come into my life around age 7 during one of those meetings, although the true weight of what that meant didn’t hit me until later. My life was pretty steady throughout my elementary and middle school years with regards to my faith, I never strayed from God, however I didn’t truly begin to grasp what the Lord meant to me personally until my junior year in High School.
That year, I decided to try going to my church’s youth group as well as join a bible study. Up until this point I had only attended services on Sundays and had no desire to join a study or go to youth group, yet this year I desired something new. High school was starting to get old and I wanted to do something different, so when this opportunity came about I decided to give it a try. I saw examples of what a genuine Christian looked like through my youth pastor and bible study leaders, as well as gained valuable insight into what it looked like to have friendships with girls who desired Christ in their life as well. I thought it would be smooth sailing from there, I was excited for college to begin a year later, however I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be.
The transition to college was one of the hardest times in my life. I have never felt so alone and inadequate than I did then. Suddenly being forced to live by myself in an environment that was completely new, surrounded by strangers on a huge campus, and receiving my first “non-A” grades, my life did a nosedive. I could no longer count on my abilities, reputation and good grades from high school to feel satisfied and happy in life. It was at this lowest moment, this place of destitution that the Lord met and found me. Yes, I knew about Christ, I had been taught from such a young age that He had died on the cross for my sins and that I was going to spend eternity in Heaven with Him, however it was at this moment in my life, when I cried out in desperation to Him, when the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” that I was given a new view as to what being a Christ-follower actually meant. It was at this point that I realized that life is not about climbing the success ladder through my own abilities and talents. I came to realize first hand that my striving was not getting me anywhere and was leaving me empty instead of filled. Christ became real. The truth that Christ died on the cross, that He satisfied the wrath of God on my behalf, and that I can do nothing to deserve His grace hit me that first semester. When I finally experienced weakness, that is when the beauty of the Gospel became real. It was rest in the reality that Christ did everything for me and that all I needed to do was turn to Him and it was there that I found what my heart was searching for.
Ever since then my life has never been the same. I have come to know the Lord each day on a deeper level and as I learn more about Him through His Word and through the fellowship with other Christ-followers I come to see that my life is complete in Him alone and this journey is beyond anything I could have imagined. It is a continual daily process of “coming to Jesus” and as I follow Him I am being blown away by how good He really is and realizing that His incomprehensible love is what truly satisfies.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” –Romans 5:8
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