Early Days
I do not remember exactly when, but I remember kneeling down beside my bed to say my prayers one night and asking God to forgive my sins and inviting the Lord Jesus Christ into "my heart". I was probably between 6 to 8 years old, and had just become a christian. I also remember having had recurring nightmares, but these ceased after my becoming a christian. In adulthood I was amazed to hear that others have had a similar experience after their conversion.

I was born to christian parents who regularly attended and were actively involved in a christian church or assembly. It was usual for my father to read the Bible to us at the breakfast table. Each week at Sunday School I was given a scripture verse to learn for the next week, and at the age of about 10 years I commenced daily Bible readings of my own volition. (-Something which every believer should do). However, neither being born to practising christian parents, nor reading the Bible, turned me into a christian. (Being kept in a garage does not turn something into an automobile!)

My Own Faith - Challenges
The faith had to be my very own, as well as the act of seeking forgiveness and the act of repentance illustrated by my actions, thoughts, words, and lifestyle.

As an older teenager I began to wonder whether my faith was my very own, or did I believe only because of my upbringing? Thus I began to rethink my christianity to ensure what I really did believe. At the age of 16 I was baptised to publicly confirm my faith.

During this time as well as my university years the biggest challenge was scientific rationalism - a belief system which, in its purest form, is essentially atheistic (denying the existence of God), seeking to explain everything through naturally occurring scientific processes, and denying the possibility of the miraculous. This humanism depends very much on evolution (biological, geological, cosmological, and scoiological) to explain our existence.

I found the religion of humanism wanting - It could not adequately explain my existence, my conscience, eternity, love, all my other emotions, and the variety of life forms about me. Studying for a Science degree I learned that many of the theories of origins are built with much imagination and not so much evidence, and the belief system is very much one of faith - faith in theories, other people's integrities and research etc. How could the Piltdown evolutionary hoax remain undiscovered for 40 years? Blind faith in a lie! The Geological Column has been one of the pillars of evolution, but it does not explain the lack of transitional forms, and its very construction leaves a lot to be desired. Evolutionist scoffed at any suggestion of catastrophic events or any intervention by a God. Their faith was entrenched in uniformitarianism. Since then evolutonary theory has itself evolved and more scientist question the validity of the Geological Column.

Further On
But my faith in Jesus does not exist simply because I found humanism and scientific rationalism wanting, and therefore being only left with Jesus to believe in. The Bible says "God's Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16), and I have that inner peace that knows of my sins forgiven and security of eternal life in heaven when I die, no matter what happens to me in this life.

That faith increased in my late twenties and early thirties when I discovered, firstly, more of the need for and the power of prayer, and, secondly, that God is a God of miracles, not just in the Bible, but now too - something which many christians do not seem to be aware of, or give only lipservice to. I have seen some awesome answers to prayer and have seen people healed when prayed for. It is also true that God does not answer all my prayers when I expect Him to - He knows the full picture better than I. Similarly, he does not answer all healing prayers - we all die eventually anyway. But I have seen enough to know that my God reigns!

I am certainly not perfect, but my sins are forgiven through accepting Jesus as my Lord and His death on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, coupled with repentance - admittance of fault and a resolve to follow Him in obedience. I have peace with God and assurance of eternal life. I seek to live a life that is pleasing to my Lord, one that is exemplified by good works.

Good works do not save me - the most important commandment is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all mind". This means I need to worship Him, pray to Him, read the scriptures to find out what He wants me to do and to obey Him.