Hi, my name is Sydney Bellamy. I'm currently a first year attending UCI and this is my testimony. I've grown up in a Christian home my entire life. Both my parents are Christian, so they raised my brother and I up in the church. We would go to church every Sunday and even though this was a weekly part of my entire life, I didn't really go out of a love for Christ.

Growing up, I just thought this was something you always do and I honestly was just going through the motions when I went. I became a Christian in fifth grade. I did believe that Jesus, the son of God, died and was resurrected for the forgiveness of my sins, but my reasoning was entirely selfish.

I didn't want to become a Christian because I wanted to surrender my life and be reconciled with God truthfully. I just didn't want to go to hell when I died. As you'd think, no change in my life occurred after becoming a Christian. By the time middle school rolled around, my friend invited me to youth group.

I started going because it seemed like the right thing to do, but I still didn't have any burning desire to get to know the Lord. But I kept going and I actually started to have an interest in church and in God. In eighth grade, I went to winter camp for the first time.

It was in that time that I realized I never really surrendered my life to Christ. I continued to get to know him as such a gracious and loving father and I wanted to be his child. For a while, I thought that was when I became a Christian on the last night of camp when they had a call to alter moment.

But after we came down the mountain, that Jesus high just wore off and life reverted right back to the way it was. And even though I wasn't in like the bad crowd or living a rebellious life in my worldly eyes, I certainly wasn't living a life for Christ. After middle school, my family and I started trying out different churches.

The summer right before my sophomore year of high school, we settled on a new church. By the end of summer, I finally started going to the high school group, but I was extremely nervous and timid. I started going to Bible study with the girls in my class when school began.

I instantly clicked with these girls and for the first time found a community that seemed to love Jesus. I learned how personal a relationship with God is. It was then that I reflected on my own life and realized that's not enough to just know that I'm a sinner and believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that I may do because of it.

I needed to make a 180 degree turn in my life and live for Christ and be an image and reflection of him, not of this broken world. I started going to church not out of obligation, but with a heart that wanted to know God so that I could grow deeper in relationship with him.

Slowly but surely, when it came to doing my Bible study, I actually had a desire to do so and learn more about who this holy God is. I desired to show others not just through my words, but also through my actions that my heart and life belong to God.

I realized that there was no way for God to work through me without working in me first and that I had to die to myself, serving in defiant flesh so that I could be born again through the Lord and be his obedient servant and vessel for his word. I can't really pinpoint an exact time when I was saved, but I know that I was saved sometime in high school.

At the church that I was currently attending, they did baptisms in a way that was very showy and it didn't seem right in my heart to do it there, as it was much more man-centered rather than God-centered. I think for all this time that I've waited, I also just wanted to make sure I did it with pure intentions, not just because everyone else had been baptized.

I've realized what an absolute joy it is to get baptized and make that public declaration that Jesus is my King and Lord of my life. I can see clearly in hindsight how faithful God was and continues to be in my life despite my endless shortcomings. By the grace of God alone, my walk with Christ has continued to strengthen as I try to keep my eyes fixed on him.

Going off to college and coming to Berean has been such a blessing in my life as my faith is challenged more than it ever has been, but I'm so incredibly thankful for that and all that I've learned, constantly trying to examine my heart and intentions by hand, every word, action, and thought.

I've learned how everything in this life is meaningless outside of God and how having an eternal perspective on life is imperative. Despite my stubborn and selfish heart wanting to live for myself over all those years, he ran after me with a jealousy and compassion that is unmatched. I'm eternally grateful that he did because I now know the permanent joy that is found in living for him, forgiven of my sins, and walking humbly before him.

I love Romans 5 verses 1 and 2 that say, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in hope of the glory of God." It's so humbling and overwhelmingly comforting to know that there's not a single thing I could ever do to deserve salvation, yet God still chose to give me this gift of eternity in a relationship with him.

Though I was dead in my trespasses, he has given me life. He is the only good in me, and I will continue to run this race with my eyes fixed on Christ so that I may glorify him with my life. Thank you. >> I'm thinking, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're not even pressing your step?

And when you come out of the water, you're not even pressing your direction, so that you may continue walking in the water. That's how you get the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.