Spiritual Autobiography

The Spiritual Discipline of Sharing my Story

A part of the Christian walk is spurring one another on towards greater glory. One way of doing that that has been very powerful for me is sharing my story and hearing other's stories. As part of the assignment for the class, we have to craft our own spiritual autobiographies. This is a comprehensive look at our lives and where God has worked. This more in depth than just a testimony because it covers more than just the conversion story or one time when we encountered God. We are to share this story with our SpiF group members. We are also then to post a semi-abbreviated version on our blogs. I am afraid my won't be all that abbreviated because I tend to be wordy. So, I will be posting my story in 3-4 installments through out the week that the assignment is due. That way you only have to read a shortish section at a time. (I apologize that this might take up your entire day) The first installment is this introduction and the experiences of childhood. The second installment is my adolescent years. These years are a tremendous portion of my story and might turn into two installments; middle and high school. Then the third or fourth installment will be my young adult years, or the current potion of my journey. You can be looking for the rest of these throughout the week :)

Thank you everyone!

I grew up in a very Christian home. Both of my parents were raised in religious backgrounds and had an entire support system of faith helping them raise me. It seems to me that faith has been a part of our family for as far back as I can look. I was baptized as an infant and was promised to be raised in a Christian environment. And that I was. My parents parented my two brothers and I with a program called Growing Kids God's Way. My parents would teach those classes to parents and used us kids as behavioral examples. I am sure that the program had good biblical values, but to us kids it seemed like we were being stifled. I remember always feeling like I had the strictest parents in the whole school. However, in hindsight I know it paid off. We went to a public school, and I know that my parents had to make an extra effort to incorporate Christ into our lives. We were very much raised Christians, even though that was not the education we were getting in school. I being pushed to believing in the Bible from all angles. We were incredibly committed to church, and I was a dedicated Sunday School attender. Our extended families were also passionate about including spirituality into our family. My family is really close, and at family gatherings we would do devotions, crucifiction themed Easter egg hunts, and birth narrative plays. There was no way that I did not know about Jesus growing up. Because I went to a public elementary school, I realize now that not very many of my friends were Christians. I was too young to notice or be effected by it, but I know now that I have to give God credit for guiding me through those friendships with no hiccups.
Probably the most significant experience of my childhood led me to another very significant relationship. We got into a car accident when I was in second grade which left me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and  severe sleep disturbance. This was a troubling time in my life, but gratefully God put my second grade teacher there to pour into me. She went the extra mile to help me succeed that year. The combination of counseling and my teacher got me through that traumatic period and pushed me further towards my spiritual maturity. It was just another relationship God blessed me with.
For these semi-uneventful years, I have to thank God for being present even though I hardly knew it. I was a Bible-believing child, but kept God at a distance. I never had a close encounter with Him, but I do know that He was keeping me safe. He provided people to pour into me, and looking back I owe them everything for the foundation that stood firm for the rest of my life.

Until next time,

Alyssa