Good morning, my name is Tyler Lee and I'm Samantha's brother. I'm a part of the youth group here and I graduated this past year from high school. I've been coming to this church for over a year now. Today I have the opportunity to share my testimony with you all.

I grew up in a Christian family and so I have been surrounded with biblical teachings and believe that God and Jesus existed ever since I was a child. Church became a bigger part of my life when I moved to Irvine for the first time. I began to learn about and realize what being a Christian entails.

I became a part of a supportive youth group and attempted to understand Scripture on my own but my heart was not fully in it. I was not motivated to walk with God yet. At the end of my freshman year when I attended a youth retreat, I felt that I was being called out to change and follow God.

Within the next year, after I reflected on my experiences and sermons from church, I decided to start my own walk with Christ and start giving my life to Him. Yet I did not develop a strong faith as I was living for myself still. My high school years was a time of difficulty for me.

I saw more differences between myself and those around me than I could find similarities. This resulted in numerous conflicts between me and my family. After my freshman year, I was taken out of public school because I and my family were unsatisfied with my education and enrolled in homeschool. For the next two years, I felt completely dissatisfied for similar reasons, became increasingly sad and continuously added to my list of differences.

For a year during my junior year, I was in the state of Washington. During this time, I lost touch with many people, formed only a few refreshed friendships, and felt very isolated. I fell out of my devotions, prayer, and spiritual motivation. I replaced these with reading whatever books and watching whatever videos interested me, working on my hobbies and other things that focused on me to escape how I felt.

I also developed much more conflict with my family because of this denial. I did not reach out to the people I knew before until closely to the end of that year in Washington. I saw how I still felt the same despite my attempts at denying it. I saw how I wanted to change.

Religion and independence were what I believed would get me through life, but it's God whom I should rely on, so I submit to the authority of Christ as my Lord and Savior. Up until the end of my year in Washington, I was blind to and had not carefully remembered the blessings and protections I had been given by God and my family.

Ever since I realized this, I held close to the Fiance 48. Finally present, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is a good review, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things. I was blind because I did not take the effort to look for and meditate on these things around me but focused only on what was easy to see, the differences between people.

When I came to Berean this past year, I found a place I could belong, where I could see more similarities between me and others. I feel that I have grown more in Christ than ever before, and though at the time have I found myself being convicted of my thoughts and sins or reminded of God's power, grace, and mercy by each sermon or Bible study I attended, as I do now, I have learned much about prayer, devotion, faith, and joy.

I have learned how to think more critically about my belief and how my actions are viewed by God and other people. Through the conflicts I had with my family, I believe that Christ has opened my eyes to see what he has given me through those around me. I have noticed that despite the isolation caused by this pandemic, I was able to strengthen my relationship with those around me, something that I did not have the chance or ability to do only a year before.

I am thankful and joyful that I am connected with the body of Christ here. Thank you.