Seeking God isn’t something that anyone does naturally. So when I look back at that time in my life, I don’t see a 14-year-old who suddenly became “spiritual”; I see a gracious God who chose to intervene in an apathetic teen’s life. I don’t see my own faithful heart; I see the faithful heart of God that kept on pursuing me, despite my faithlessness, and that still pursues me to this day.

I know that sounds a bit dramatic. But it’s true: reading the Bible did change my life.

I was a fourteen-year-old girl at the time, and in my opinion, everything in my life was going just fine. I wasn’t looking for an opportunity for my life to change because I didn’t think anything needed to change.

My family was in the States on furlough, traveling around to different churches that support us. Much of the time, however, we stayed in the town where my mom grew up, doing homeschool and attending our home church.

The youth pastor at our home church had this annoying love for what he called “sharing times.” He would have us teens break up into smaller groups and share with one another what God was doing in our lives. I’m sure some teens were genuinely open and transparent during these times, but I know that I wasn’t.

I couldn’t share what God was doing in my life because I had a secret: God wasn’t doing anything in my life. At least, that’s how I felt. I knew enough Christianese, however, to get by during these times.

But that didn’t change the fact that I basically had no relationship with God. I believe I was a Christian, but I was a baby Christian who had been a baby Christian for the past 8-10 years.

Around this time, one of my Bible teachers (whom I watched on DVD in homeschool), started giving homework for me to read in Acts.

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