Hi everyone, my name is Tyler. I'm a second year student in the college ministry, Casa de Long Beach, and this is my testimony. Growing up, I was born and raised in a Christian household and was blessed with the opportunity to hear and learn about God at such a young age.

I served in the church, went to Sunday school, and checked off all the boxes on the outside on what it looked like to be a Christian. But in reality, I had no desire to know God, and I lived a life for my own selfish desires, especially when I wasn't at church on Sunday mornings or Friday night youth groups.

My focus was on worldly things with people that I don't even know remember who I am today. I was a people pleaser and did whatever it took to make it seem like I fit in with the rest of my peers. This would cause me to live a life for myself and live a life full of lies.

This life full of sin caused me to never be able to see what the Lord had desired for me. Throughout this whole time, I attended church without a heart for the Lord, even though I said and did the things to make it seem like I did. I had a lot of head knowledge of who God was through Sunday school, Bible stories, but did nothing to apply it to my own life personally.

I did this for my whole life heading into high school, and at this time, transitioning into high school was really tough for me as I went to a small high school where none of my peers from middle school went to, and I felt like I had no friends there.

That whole year, I felt lonely and felt like my life was purposeless at the time. I would come home every day from school, lock myself in my room, and lock up God and the rest of the people in my life away from me. I had no confidence in myself for at least the first half of my freshman year, and I even considered ending it all.

During this time of loneliness, I felt God's comfort and the love from the witnesses in my life that never gave up on me and cared about me deeply. I was overwhelmed by His love, and one night I cried out to the Lord in prayer, realizing that I wanted and needed Him in my life.

The Lord pulled me up from the depths of my sin, and it is only by His grace that He opened my eyes to see Him for who He truly is. My eyes were opened, and in December of 2016, I was sprinkled at my home church. Even after this event, I continued to struggle with sin and my obedience to the Lord as I tried to hold on to sin with one hand and God with the other.

I continued to try and live a life as my peers did the rest of high school, and those influences transformed my heart to be hardened and unable to fully surrender myself to the Lord. The summer of senior year heading into college, I realized that I needed to let go and fully surrender myself to the Lord and really sacrifice everything in my life that I truly idolized and desired, and so I did.

Ever since then, throughout the trials and tribulations, the Lord continues to work in my life to shape me into the person He calls for me to be. Luke 6:46 says, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" Today as an act of obedience, I'm getting baptized so that I may be raised with Christ in His death and resurrection.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." The Lord continues to provide for me in times of uncertainty and has blessed me beyond what I could ask for. God is good, and I realize that sometimes that good isn't always what I want, but it's what I need in my life, and I need God.

Christ is Lord over my life no matter what happens, and I will continue to live a life for Him in full obedience and with full surrender to Jesus, who is Lord over my life. Thank you.