My Testimony

hello everyone welcome back to our channel we are just all cozied up on the couch today and we went on a really long walk so that was great but i am really excited and not gonna lie i'm a little bit nervous about this vlog but i'm very excited and i'm gonna be sharing my testimony with you guys and how i became a christian how that is just my whole life what the lord has done for me i really want this video to be about him and not about me but i do hope that you guys can relate with me through my story and i hope it points you back to jesus how much he loves you so much no matter what you've done no matter what you think about him or if you think that he can't love you or whatever it may be he loves you so much he's changed my life so i want to share my story so with that we're gonna get started okay so i was super blessed to grow up in a christian family i have three sisters and one brother they're all older than me so i am the baby i grew up in seattle washington if you're in the washington area i grew up in like bury and federal way area des moines so i was super thankful to have grown up in a christian family we just so thankful for our childhood it was so fun i actually accepted jesus when i was five i still remember the moment of me being on my bed it was a barbie bed actually and i remember my mom being there and me accepting the lord into my heart and it's just such a special moment that i always think back to yeah i just think growing up there was no doubt in my mind that jesus was my lord and i mean even to this day i feel like i don't struggle with that very much i have seen the lord work in my life in so many different ways that i want to share with you guys and just the ways that he has comforted me loved me throughout the years and just looking back at my life and seeing the way that he's provided is just absolutely insane to me i grew up going to a christian school and while that was great and all and taught me a lot about jesus it definitely hit a point when i was in high school where i rebelled a little bit as most teenagers do and i think at the time i didn't realize why that was happening so much but looking back i feel like i can kind of put those pieces together and just looking at how much i've grown now and looking back at when i was in high school or around in eighth grade and just being so self-conscious i had terrible terrible acne like pizza face i was super scrawny i just was so insecure i just think i really looked for my affirmation in boys and what they thought about me and instead of being like okay this is my identity in christ and he loves me perfectly for who i am but i was like no i'm gonna you know go ahead and start drinking and partying and finding my identity in boys and that's what i did and it got to a point where something big happened in my life and i ended up drinking way too much at a party one night and actually ended up in a ditch naked which was i'm glad i can like not that it's a laughable thing but i'm glad that i can kind of like at least laugh saying it now because for a while every time i would tell this story it was just so painful for me because it was the lowest point in my life and just such a deep dark hurting moment for me that whenever i told this story i literally could not get through it without bawling my eyes out and even right now i'm like i'm getting a little teary-eyed thinking back to just how hard that time in my life was and just looking back at that insecure girl and just thinking like what were you doing and i'm happy i can continue this story and share that experience and how it molded me to who i am today so i ended up naked in a ditch from alcohol poisoning and i remember waking up in the middle of the night in a hospital my mom was there and i remember her crying and asking if she knew if i was raped and if it hurt and how i felt and it was just like i went blank it was so scary because i did not remember anything from that night it was yeah just a really hard point i struggled for a long time with why that happened and why god allowed me to go through that and what was the good in that and that was really hard for me to understand why i had to go to such a deep dark place i personally do think that god allows us to go through tough things and i personally believe that it's always for the greater good and that there is a reason even when i may never understand and may not understand until heaven or you know even then who knows but um i really do believe that and just looking back at that moment of my life and seeing how it formed me and how i can share my story with other girls who have gone through similar things and seen the way that jesus brought me out of that situation and how i could have died so that was the other part to that situation my friends left me in that ditch when i was naked and i don't know what happened i was with my friends i don't know how i was naked in the ditch um i had extreme alcohol poisoning and it was really cold out so apparently a cop was driving by because he was in the area and apparently there had been phone calls about you know missing vehicles so he was driving past the ditch that i was in and didn't see me told me this later on me and my mother met up with him and he said he made his way to a stop sign and he said that he felt like there's something back there and that god was telling him to turn around and he turned around and he found me in the ditch and called 9-1-1 and apparently the doctor said that if i would have been in that ditch for 30 minutes longer because of the hypothermia and my extreme um alcohol poisoning that i would have died and oh i'm not telling this story to be feel bad for me this is just a point in my life where god allowed me to go through this situation he brought me through it and that situation has molded me into who i am today i see that god saved me from that and he did give me another chance to live for him and change what i was doing as sick as it sounds i'm thankful that all of that happened because i don't know where i would be today do you think that after that whole situation i was really mad with god and i was really ashamed of what may or may not happen to me that night so i continued to party and try to find who i was in boys and all these other things and none of them ever fulfilled me i just feel like i was acting out because i was like god i know you brought me through this but like why why did i have to go through that you know i was heavily into young life during high school and i love to go and do a summer staff and work crew at washington family ranch if you guys know in oregon um i was there for a few summers in a row and i just remember that having such a big impact on my life hearing the truth spoken over me that i am a new creation in christ and those things that happened to me and like what might have been done i have a new identity in him and i'm a new creation in him he has given me value and hope and a future he defines me after the whole ditch situation just so many people talking about me and rumors and mean words and it's so hard not to let the things that people say tell you who you are i just remember being at young life and being able to be in an isolated area without my phone and without all the distractions focus on jesus and who he is and who he says that i am and how he loves me no matter what even remember being at summerstaff one of those years in washington family rant one of my friends even coming up to me and she was like this is so random but she didn't even know my story or anything and this was pretty close to right after that whole situation happened and she came up to me and was like this is so random but i just really feel like god is telling me to tell you a verse the verse is in my mind like let me find it she pulls out her bible and goes to psalms psalm something i hope to find it the verse was he will pull you up from the ditch you are in or something like that and i was like oh my goodness i literally felt like god had pulled me out of that ditch and saved me from dying and then it's like so crazy how that girl didn't even know my story but she felt like god was telling her to tell me that verse that was perfectly aligned with my life at the time i was just like oh my goodness all these things like if i ever doubt it that god was real like i know he is now after that i just feel like my life was changed i was like i'm done chasing the same old crap that doesn't fulfill me doesn't define me like is lifeless and it leads to death i want to fully surrender myself to jesus be on board for him and not look back and so i feel like ever from that moment i think that was the end of my sophomore year i really was just like god i'm done messing around like i'm i'm ready to fully give it to you and grow and um that's what i did and i messed up and i still messed up and i definitely still struggled with some of the same things but it has been so cool to see where jesus has led me and where he continues to lead me daily and just getting to know him day in and day out is the best thing of my life i was crippled from anxiety and fear of dying and so many different things that now i have hope i have life and i don't fear death even in the middle of a pandemic i don't fear death i know that you know even if i do die i know where i'm going and that it's gonna be even better than here so that'll be great after high school i went to northwest for a year ended up meeting brandon i worked for my dad a little bit in real estate met brandon at church at church home and um we ended up dating for nine months i moved to portland for a short period of time to nanny for my sister and ended up moving right back because we got engaged and we're doing a long distance for that time and i mean it was kind of long distance because i was in portland but i came back every weekend because we were so obsessed with each other yeah me and brandon got married we've been married for three and a half years moved on to arizona to start his pilot career so that's kind of the more like personal side of what we've been up to but i just feel like the lord has grown me so much in these past few years i've just especially been growing on instagram and just hearing everyone's opinions from every which side and people calling you names it's just like thank you jesus for showing me who i am and that he is my identity and he is my hope and it doesn't matter what other people say about you it matters what he says about you and i think that's still something that i'm working on daily but just hope that hearing this testimony you um if even one person finds a little bit of encouragement for it or you know if you think that i'm too far for him to love me i've done too much you haven't he loves you so much he wants a relationship with you more than you could ever imagine i'm telling you it is the best decision that you will ever make it will change your life giving me life and purpose john 2 16 says for god to love the world that he sent his one and only son so that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life and so you literally just have to ask for it and that's what i did when i was five i prayed to god that he would take away my sins and forgive me and that i could live for him and that's what i wanted and from that day on i chose to live for him he is my lord and savior and it's just the greatest gift that you could ever receive so a long video but i hope you guys enjoyed this testimony and thank you guys for watching i hope you feel encouraged i hope you know that jesus loves you so much no matter what and i hope you guys have a great rest of your week i cannot wait to hear um your comments and feel free to message me with any questions you have i'm so happy that i got to share with you guys what jesus has personally done for me in my life okay bye

Channel: Nicole Carlson

Views: 2,818

Rating: 4.9263802 out of 5

Keywords: my testimony, testimony, christian, how i became a christian

Id: WnNepSdbV0w

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 28 2021