okay guys this is going to be a very different entry from the ones that i have been writing so far... I hope that it will have a good effect on you. Most of you guys know that I call myself a Christian and that well hopefully you have noticed some sort of a difference in my life but what you probably also know is that i havent really shared with you that part of my life although you guys are aware that it exists. I pretty much keep it inside of me and i live my life according to it and that's pretty much it unless you guys by personal choice come to me to ask me about it. Well lately God has been speaking to me all the time for like the past three weeks with the next few words: "share your story." you might think... what the heck is she talking about... how did God go about telling her that. lol and what the heck does she mean by sharing her story... well guys i know some of you may have a concept of me always trying to do what's right and iono like never wanting to do bad stuff, etc. but the truth is that it's not like that always.. well im getting a little carried away though lemme start from the beginning. sharing my story means telling you guys how is it that i came to be a Christian and why on earth am I still one when it seems like it is a hard way to live life. I was born in what you might call a "Christian home." both my parents were catholic when they were kids but in college they converted and became protestants. As i  was growing up they put me in a Christian school in two different countries and during this time i was fed a bunch of stuff much of which i didnt even understand. I was told o yea... you are a bad person ur a "sinner" and you can only go to heaven if "you accept Jesus into your heart." i didnt really understand the concept too well at first and i sort of understood it as time went on and I made a desicion when i was about 4 or 5 years old to "receive Christ into my heart." I was made to memorize sooo much of the bible in school... every night my parents read to me the Bible and i thought to myself i'm a christian i should be better than other people. So i remember being very little and thinking ok today im not gonna "sin." I'm not gonna do anything bad or think any bad thoughts I'm just going to be good and at the end of almost every day with heartbreak i saw that i always sinned. I thought wow this cant be right. what is the difference? as i started growing up i stopped doing that but it still wasnt something that wow made me feel different or anything... sometimes it seemed gosh this is stupid just cause im a Christian i cant do a bunch of stuff... i cant celebrate Halloween (give me a break guys i was little lol), i cant watch certain movies... what is this? also the schools i went to went a little too far when it came to saying what we could do and couldnt do. What we could see and couldnt see. and i just didnt feel any different from everyone else. I had a lot of what you would call knowledge of God but it really didnt make me feel any different or any better and it wasnt like i could always feel good inside it just was like one of those things like what's ur name? Diana. where are u from? Colombia. what religion are you? im a christian. and it was just  fact and nothing more. when i was about 12 years old i moved here to where i live now. I started going to a church called "Triple Cross Ranch." i went to sunday school like everyone else i even taught it but i was still the same. I knew all of this stuff but it didnt change any of the essence of who i was. During my time there i met two girls one named Autumn and one Katrina. Katrina had been born in a Christian home like me but hadnt really felt anything special and Autumn had never heard about God before in her life until she turned 16. We quickly became friends. Autumn came to know about God and i saw an immediate change in her life. She was so excited because she felt like she found a part of her that had been missing and i looked at her and then at myself and thought... God, what is so different about us two? why does she feel such a change and such an excitement for ya and i dont? and i realized... she made her choice... it was voluntary.... not instilled into her since she was born... God had truly touched her. I prayed to God and said: "God, I have heard about you ever since i have memory... people that have come in and out of my life have told me about how great it feels to be a Christian but i just cant relate... i want you to know God that after all these years I CHOOSE YOU. my prarents didnt choose you for me, I CHOOSE YOU." soon i began to feel the change... i realized that those efforts as a little kid to be as good as good can be were like so futile and i would never accomplish them but that was ok with God. he understood my weakness and he still said "I died so you could live." all the knowledge that i had gained throughout the years actually made sense now... and i could apply it to my life. seeing the excitement of new Christians brought new excitement to my life. every time i felt alone i prayed and somehow things felt better. When i was sad i had someone to talk to and now i didnt feel like i was talking to the wall... i knew God heard me.

Life as a Christian hasnt been easy though... many times i feel tempted to do sooo many things u guys wouldnt even believe if i told u. like seriously but i find that every day it is better and more rewarding to just say God I give you my day, help me.

ok so that's my story... so probably u have been wondering... how did God tell you to tell us ur story? hah guys dont doubt that God talks cause boy does he talk! For like a month now he has been telling me through many things and situations "share your story." the first time was when i went to mariana's church and in our sunday school they said that we have a great secret that has changed us completely and that it would be mean to withold it from those we say we love. i thought to myself: "yea, ok God sure... someday."

Then my dad bought me a devotional called "extreme devotion" and its about Christian martyrs throughout time and after one of the stories those exact same words followed "share your story." and i was like ok... that's nice God... someday i will! gosh.

then i went to my own church... and my pastor was talking about "evangelism" (telling others about Jesus Christ, the son of God) and then he looked us all in the eye and said you have to "share your story." i said... umm hello God! are u trying to speak to me? someday i will i promise when im older or something cause they're gonna look at me weird..."

Then i was in my car and there was this song on the radio by Mathew West called "Next Thing You know" and it's about him telling his story about how he came to know God and then he tells the listener: "so what's your story...?" and i said ah wat a coincidence... and i felt a thought that came into my head that i knew was God that said " you know it isnt a coincidence.. hear me."

Then i went to bed a couple of nights ago and um well in dreams God somehow again said "share your story." and i said ok... i'll do it maybe soon...

then i came online yesterday and i checked mariana's xanga and she told her story and she said she wanted to "share her story". and then i finally gave in and said "ok God... i understand... you know what you do and i cant question ur purposes. i'm sry for not listening earlier" and i almost cried.

so what's the story that has changed the lives of many around the world that call themselves Christians? well see... God made us all... but we are bad people by nature and we sin. God is perfect and cant stand sin and he knew that for our sin we must be apart from him forever and therefore we deserve hell. all of us do. I deserve hell. but he couldnt stand to think of that and he thought... if someone blameless and pure died and went to hell he could pay for the sins of all sinners so they didnt have to pay. who would that be? and he realized it would have to be his own son. So he sent his only son to earth in the form of a man and he was born to a virgin pure and without stain. He was killed by roman soldiers but the truth is he was God and could have freed himself but he didnt. He died as a man and went to HELL in our place. He then defeated death and rose again on the third day. he made many miracles and went back to heaven. He said: "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but through me." his death makes us all eligible to go to heaven. he offers us that gift if we will only accept him and believe that he is God and he really died and came back from the death forgiving all of our sin and that because of his punishment we are free. isnt it pretty great considering we all deserve death and hell? so i ask you guys because i love you... when u die... where are u going? i know i want heaven and you can come too... just accept him... it's the only way... he will change ur life forever (literally).

God bless you all...

-Di.