My name is Samuel. I am 9 years old. I was born in a Christian family and every night my parents would read the Bible to me. From the Bible I learned that sin is words, thoughts, and actions that displease God. I realized that I am sinner because I would lie, disobey my parent, argue, nag, and be very selfish. I wanted to be perfect so I tried not to do those things, but I kept on failing. My parents reminded me that we can’t do this on our own, we need Jesus to help us. Because Jesus loves us, he came to this world, died on the cross, and was raised to life again in three days. As long as I believe in him, my sins will be forgiven, and he will give me a new life and help me be more like him. So when I was five and a half, I decided that I wanted to believe in Jesus, so my parents led me to pray the Sinner’s Prayer.
After I prayed the Sinner’s Prayer, I kept going to church, attending Sunday School, and reading the Bible at night, but I started to doubt if I really believed in God. My mom said maybe it is because I only have head knowledge of Jesus but have not really experienced Him in a personal way, so I started to pray that I would experience God, and God answered my prayers. One example is that I prayed about my friend’s salvation and soon saw him being eager to learn more about God. Another example is that I was struggling with lying so I prayed to God for help. The result was that I started to lie less because whenever I wanted to lie about something bad I did, I felt a voice reminding not to. And the few times when I did lie, a voice would remind me to confess my parents. After experiencing God answering my prayers, I knew God was real and I believe in Him.
After making sure that I believe, I knew the next step would be baptism, as Jesus has taught. However, I was very shy and did not want to be baptized in front of a lot of people. One day, my mom and I were talking about a missionary named Jim Elliot. He sacrificed his life when sharing Jesus with others. I thought Jim Elliot was very brave for sacrificing his life for God because no one wants to die. In comparison, my shyness wasn’t a big problem, and I should be brave too. Then my mom said if it is the right thing to do, then do it. So I decided that I want to be baptized.
Today I am very happy because I am baptized. Although I have experienced God helping me be more like Him, I know I am still far from perfection. But God will continue to help me by reminding me not to do things that are displeasing Him, and when I do sin, He will also continue to remind me to turn back quickly.