Chris Carter
Chris Carter's Story
Success
I had heard John 3:16, read the Bible, grown up in church, and had Godly parents, but I never knew what freedom in Christ was all about.
Story Tags
religious discontent, doubt, overwhelmed, high school, bitterness, success
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I was very fortunate to grow up in a loving and supportive Christian family. My dad is a minister and strong spiritual leader. My mom is a Godly Christian woman. I also have two younger sisters, who love the Lord. However, the church I grew up in was very legalistic. Growing up, I was always under constant pressure from other church members to either try harder, perform better, look, act, or think a certain way. After being trapped in this system, I finally gave up trying and just decided it was too much. During my senior year of high school, I basically gave up on God and religion decided to pursue life on my terms.
Because I was tired of trying harder, I began to do whatever I pleased and with that did not care who I hurt. I started to party a lot. I also hurt people closest to me by slandering them behind their back, or by using my blunt personality to let them know what I really thought. I also struggled with a very hostile temper and frequently lashed out at people who were only trying to help me. I also could not take any type of criticism and justified every action I did, by saying, "This is just me. Take it or leave it!"
After my senior year of high school I worked at a Christian summer camp. After a school year of partying and doing whatever I pleased, I decided to work at this camp and get "closer" to God. However, I wasn't a Christian and instead of "getting closer" to God, I drifted farther and farther away and continued to party and get involved with relationships that were not healthy. Here I was at a Christian camp, on the supervisory camp staff, trying to let campers know about Jesus, and I was more sinful, corrupt, and out of control, than I had ever dreamed of. I had also allowed my partying and attitude to take me deeper into a life I didn't want.
If I had stayed in that situation, I probably would have gone to college and gotten even farther into that lifestyle. I could definitely see myself heading down a path of drugs, further promiscuity, addiction, and eventually total chaos. I also would have become very hostile towards God and the thought of having a personal relationship with him.
As the summer came to a close, I decided to go to a youth retreat with some of my friends. My main purpose in going was not to meet God, but girls. I also went to this retreat hoping to get "kicked out!" In fact, my friend convinced me to come, saying, "Let's go to this retreat and try to get kicked out!" That sounded like a plan to me. But when I got there, the theme was "Free at last!" I had heard John 3:16, read the Bible, grown up in church, and had Godly parents, but I never knew what freedom in Christ was all about. During that week, I began to see God revealing himself to me, and seeing how all the decisions I had made, had not given me the freedom I desired, but bondage. At the end of that week in the Sunday service, the preacher said, "I don't know what burdens you have, but Jesus can take those burdens away. All you have to do is leave them at the cross." It all made sense to me, and during that meeting I prayed to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior.
After that I went to college and got involved in a college fellowship that allowed me to expereince God in a new and real way. I began to learn about what it meant to have a personal relationship with him. I also was able to go overseas on a missions trip and see what God was doing in other parts of the world. I also was able to lead other students closer to God through the college fellowship I was a part of. God also gave me a vision for what he could do on my campus and in my place of employment after graduation.
Even though my life has taken and 180 degree turn, it hasn't been easy. During my junior year of college, three of my friends died; one died in a car crash, one in a plane crash, and the other to cancer. I also had a two year struggle with bitterness and had to learn a very hard lesson in forgiveness. All in all God has been faithful. Those times have been tough, but one thing I have learned is, God gets you through them.