My Testimony – Running from God

Hey y’all!

My name is Andrea Martin and I am so thankful and so blessed that you are here reading this! I have prayed for you!

I want to start off by telling you a little bit about myself:

I have such a passion inside of me for helping people. I’ve never quite known what to do with it. I have used it to help me figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up. I’ve used it to pick my major for college. But, as my relationship with Christ began to grow I started to recognize that this burning passion is all for furthering His kingdom and bringing people to Him.

I am a preacher’s kid, but I always follow this with, “but I haven’t ALWAYS been a preacher’s kid.” What I mean by this, is my dad didn’t accept the call to preach until I was in 5^th grade. And for whatever reason, I felt like this was TOO LATE for me to be the “preacher’s kid that God wanted me to be”, Satan had a hold on me and my self-worth in just the 5^th grade. After my dad accepted the call to preach, the Lord began to move our lives around and work in ways I had never seen before.

When we found the church God intended for my dad to take over, my family and I packed up our things and moved an hour down the road to a town I had never heard of. Talk about having faith in the Lord right? I was saved when I was very young. I was raised in a Christian home, surrounded by AMAZING Christian influences and guess what? None of these things were enough for me to truly surrender myself to God.

My testimony:

I ran from God. I ran, and I ran. Why? Because I wasn’t done living the life of a sinner. I felt unworthy and guilty to be in the presence of God- these are lies from Satan himself by the way. I kept telling myself that one day, when I was older, I would truly give my life over to God. I didn’t want to feel convicted (guilty) for my sin and I also didn’t want to even try to give this sin up because I didn’t feel strong enough to do it. I wasn’t strong enough, I am still not strong enough, but thankfully my God is. So fast forward to 19 years old- it took my this long to truly start surrendering my life to Jesus and His plan for me.

It has been heavy on my heart to start reaching out and creating a community for other girls who feel this way. Girls who feel unworthy and weak. Girls who feel that because of their circumstances, that  they’re not good enough to be a child of God and to further His kingdom. I want to share His word. I want to share my experiences, my failures, and my story with all of you.

I have always used my flaws as an excuse and I have allowed them to hold my back from surrendering my life. I am 20 years old. It took my up until now to realize that God not only loves me, including my flaws, He can and WILL (if I let go and let Him) use my imperfections for good. He can use my failures, my strengths, and my experiences to share His love and give hope to others!

If you take anything away from my words I pray that it is this:

God loves you EVEN THOUGH you’re not perfect. God loves you, period.

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) says: “…I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

Everlasting love: unconditional love, never changing love.

I am growing in Christ everyday and I truly have sooooo far to go for me to feel “qualified” enough to start this blog. But God has been (and is) speaking to my heart that the time is NOW & that HE provides the tools and words FOR me.

Thank you so much for getting to know me a little bit and reading my (very shortened) testimony! I would love to hear yours! I would also love to pray for you! If you would like to share your testimony or any specific needs you might have please click on the “contact” tab on the menu OR  email me at: yourpathwaytopurpose@gmail.com