Ashley [English]


Ashley [English]


What was your opinion of Christians, and of the church?

     I thought that white people were Catholic and Black people were baptist. I didn’t have an opinion; that’s just what I thought. I didn’t know that anyone really read the Bible, nor cared about God. I didn’t know that was a thing. I’d never been exposed to that. In school we maybe had to read the Bible in religion class, but I could care less, and it never affected me. I never even thought of other religions honestly, I was just very closed-minded.

Why did you change your mind?

     Jesus caused me to change my mind. I went to college and saw that people read the Bible, and loved Jesus, and that he was a real person who actually affected human history. A person either acknowledges this, or ignores it, but I couldn’t just go on ignoring that.

     I ended up at that college because I played softball, and I made the team there. It was a mall school so I thought that was cool. I didn’t know much about it, just that it was a private small school, but when I got there it turned out to be a Christian school, and people were either there for sports, or they’re there because they were Christians.

Who influenced your decision to believe?

     It was November of my freshman year. I was sitting in my friends’ room. I know that’s where the Holy Spirit changed me, that’s where it actually happened. That night I may have just been sitting there talking to my Christian friends, Erin, Lizzy, and Stephanie, and I was realizing how Christians are different in that they’re happy, they love God, they love the Bible, and it matters to them. That was when He took my heart. Other friends, Bryan, Angela, and Josh, helped me a lot by actually explaining the gospel to me and going through the book of Romans with me. And I got to observe Bryan and Angela’s relationship, and Angela was always so kind, and picked me up for church, even though I had a car, but I was still pretty selfish then.

     My friends Angela and Stephanie encouraged me to get baptized. I didn’t want to do it at first because of my pride. I didn’t want to be up in front of people. Angela told me it’s an outward representation of an inward change, and that my not being baptized was a decision to not give God glory, which really hurt me. Because I don’t want to take glory away from God.

What changed in your life after deciding to follow Christ?

     I became open-minded. That’s why I always tell people as a Christian I’m not closed-minded. I don’t think Christians are. God definitely opened my eyes to the world. For example, I didn’t know that there were people in the world who don’t know who Jesus is. There are people who have never even heard his name. He caused me to consider things other than myself, to consider how I can be a change and bring the gospel to other people who have never heard, which is why He changed my heart about my future career, and I decided to study nursing.

     And He changed even little things. For example, I remember talking to girls on the softball team about me being a Christian, and about how Christ changed my heart, and how just walking in the grass is different, because I have a new appreciation for creation. Because I realize God did it with a purpose. He opened my eyes to appreciate him and to acknowledge that he's there.

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