How Jesus Changed Me: Rachel L’Antigua

Rachel was baptized on May 4th at Trinity Park Pavilion in front of The Paradox Church. This is her story:I was introduced to Jesus at a very young age. I was raised in a Christian home where my bedtime stories were about the great heroes in the faith like Abraham, Noah, David. My mom would often read me stories of missionaries until I would fall asleep. I have known about Jesus, and believed about him in my head, for as long as I can remember.However, it took me twenty years to actually believe, in my heart, the omnipotent reality of who Jesus is.As I grew older, I began to realize that my profession of faith did not line up with my actions. I constantly strove after perfection and a “good” Christian image. During high-school I became disillusioned and hopeless as I realized that my so-called “Christianity” was a sham. Instead of turning to Christ, I turned to worldy pleasures. I sought after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. My worldliness came to a head during my freshman year of college.By God’s grace I realized that both the religiosity of my younger years, and the rebelliousness of my current years were anti-God, anti-Jesus, and anti-Gospel. After this realization, God led me to attend a 9-week summer discipleship program in Panama City Beach, Florida, called Kaleo. It was at Kaleo that God shattered my idols of friends, success, money, career, and self.In His great mercy, God showed me the depravity of my sin; and for the first time in my life I felt the weight of the separation that I deserved from the holy and perfect God. God wrecked everything I held dear and filled me up with his presence and love. He wooed me to himself by opening my eyes to his unconditional love for me, displayed in Jesus Christ dying on the cross and raising to life to reconcile me to God. It was during that summer after my freshman year of college, that I finally understood what grace was; and it was during that summer that I began to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.