Natalie's Story

My idea of God was somebody very distant, not somebody who was wanting to be involved in my life, but somebody who was wanting to restrict my life
My name's Natalie, and this is my story
Before I became a Christian, I was brought up in the Catholic Church, so every Sunday, we would go along to church and it just was something that we did, it wasn't really something that I chose, and then when I was old enough to choose, I chose not to
So I just started living my life the way that I felt was a good life, but there was still a part of me that was longing for more, and I wasn't quite sure what that was, but I knew that I wasn't finding it by living life my way
One day, I went to see Machine Gun Preacher and I was watching this real
life story about a guy who had met Jesus and his life had been changed and he was going out and, you know, making a real difference in the world
And I started asking myself what difference it was that I was making
My friend who I worked with, she would tell me about how she was going to church and stuff, and so she'd invited me along to church with her
I went along initially, and I thought, oh you know, this is nice, it's, you know, quite cheesy music, but it's quite good
And I remember the message that was preached then about destiny and how there is a purpose for your life, but it just didn't sink in
And so it was maybe about three years later before I started coming along to church
All the while, she was still praying for me and praying that, you know, I would connect and that I would have that relationship with God
When I came along one particular Sunday, I heard a message that was answering the exact questions that I had about life and purpose and who it is that's giving you purpose and how it is that you're to invest your life
It just kind of fell into place that it was real that God was wanting to be involved in my life, and that Jesus was real and he made a real sacrifice for me
Before, there was a distant God who was putting rules in place to kind of ruin all my fun, and now he is an every day, every minute part of my life
I love that's he's able to make even the mistakes in your life really beautiful
It's only God who's able to do that