God created my purpose THEN created my body.

I'm grateful for eternal life because it has given my life purpose.

Before surrendering my life to Jesus, I would describe my motivation in life to be very shallow. I was self-focused. I grew up in church, but my "faith" was really just knowing how to have good behavior and follow rules. I knew I wanted to be a "good person," and was sure to strive to follow every rule I learned from church. I lived to have fun, and put my satisfaction before others. Having good behavior and liking to have fun isn't a bad thing, but there is so much more to life than that. I lived day to day really without a purpose. Something was missing. During my first church camp back in 2019, my small group leader asked us to share our testimonies. As I pondered over what I was going to say, I realized I didn't have a testimony. I didn't have a story about how God has worked in my personal life because I had never accepted Him to be my Lord. I had this false belief that if I was "good" and followed the rules then I was doing everything right. After all, I knew about Jesus and the Bible stories. That night, I decided to accept Jesus and begin to know Him on a personal level. A few weeks after camp I was baptized and have been deepening my relationship with Jesus ever since. I learned there is so much more to life than following rules, behaving well, and having fun. Over time, God has began to reveal the specific plan He has for me piece by piece. I am not here to just wander around the earth for a time and then die. I am here because God thought of a reason for Chesni to be in this world THEN He created me. He created my purpose before creating my body. God is wanting to use me to further His kingdom. He tells me to go and make disciples. Jesus doesn't need me, but he wants to use me for a mission that has eternal effect. My relationship with Jesus has allowed me to live a life filled with much more joy and purpose than without Him. Jesus is my reason to live. While I am not perfect, I know strive for my life to be focused on loving Him and loving others rather than being self-focused.

I know my relationship with Jesus is real. I know He is real, therefore I know His word is true. His word tells me that because my belief is in Jesus and what He did for me, my life isn't limited to my time on earth, but that I am blessed with eternal life with God in heaven someday.