|
send
page
 Have you ever wished you were someone else? I did!
I was raised in a great family with seven brothers and sisters. My parents were missionaries in Africa for many years and so I naturally had a lot of knowledge about God and Christianity. At a young age, I decided to begin a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
As I grew older I became increasingly involved in sports and friends and did not see my faith as an important part of my life. Instead, I focused on myself and on ensuring that, wherever I was, I was always part of the “in group.� People often thought I had it “all together.� However, inside I was very unsure of myself. In high school I spent a lot of time working out in the gym. I thought that if I looked good then I would feel good. The problem was this: There was always someone bigger and stronger than I was. I always wished I had the gifts and abilities of others. I was just Ian Whitfield—your average guy.
During university I became interested again in my spiritual journey but was afraid to give God full control of all areas of my life. I thought he would make me something I didn’t want to be. In hindsight, I realize how foolish this was; but it was my reality at the time. I tried to fill the emptiness I felt with other things: sports, relationships, and school.
In my second year, a close friend of mine was killed in a car accident. I realized that it could have easily been me and I was not ready to die; I still had unanswered questions. Around that time, another friend had been talking to me about his faith in God and his relationship with Jesus Christ. I called him immediately. He shared with me how God had not left, but rather I had left him. I had not nurtured my relationship with Jesus. I needed to renew that friendship that I had begun so many years before.
Shortly after that I recommitted my life to God.
Blaise Pascal, the great French mathematician, once said: “There is a God shaped vacuum in every man, woman and child that cannot be filled by any man made object but only by God made known by His Son Jesus Christ.� I realized that I had spent much of my life trying to stuff all sorts of things into the void in my heart that could only be filled by God.
Since that time I have experienced a great deal of inner peace, even during the difficult seasons of my life including the death of my father. It has not been an easy journey; however, I wouldn’t trade a day with God for a thousand elsewhere. I still have challenges, but now I turn immediately to God for help and hope instead of trying to do it on my own. I still admire others’ gifts and abilities, but I no longer wish to be someone else. Today I am happy with who God made me to be and with my special relationship with him.
|
