How I met Him...

Many know me now as Irene, a Christian by faith. And many others too who have known me since birth or as a college goer, know me as a teen who chose to follow Christ during college days. People have their own assumptions for me choosing to follow Christ. Some assumed that I chose Christ, because I tried to escape the dejection of my diabetic life, some thought I chose Christ through Christian influence.

But the truth is only I and a few of my family members know what factors drove me towards Christ. Even as child, I know that I was a deep thinker. Many of my friends and my sister have acknowledged and teased me of my thinking and imaginative levels which at times go extremes.But Christ is not my imagination...which many of them who have experienced Him know.

Being a thinker (by His grace), I thought deep about things of life such the meaning of life, truth etc. The questions which usually splashed my mind were:

Is there a purpose to my living?

What is the truth?

Is there a God to relate? (for even before I came to Christ, I related to an molten idol I worshiped)

Is there value for true love, honesty and integrity?

Will there be some who will truly see and respond to these things?

As a teenager, I held on to values and expected the same from others. But to my dismay I rarely found anybody outside my family to show me real love. I used to wonder whether I will find someone in my life who would love me for my heart overlooking my looks. I was content about my tom boyish looks and never looked down on myself, neither suffered any complexes because of my diabetes. I looked for my soul mate but never had any friends for I was an introvert. I had one or two female friends who were like me; not outgoing or freaking out types. We only used to talk serious stuff about life, families and problems very unlike the gals of our age. But my heart longed for a soul mate. That was the time I came to know about Christ through my Christian friend. Though I did not fully dive into Christian living, I accepted Christ and was relating to Him as a friend. My Christian friend failed in her efforts to make me go to church or involve me in prayer meets.

I knew that I found my soul mate, one who loved me for what I am. It is said that the deep spiritual longings and deep spiritual thirsts a human can have, can only be met by a divine love. And this agape (unconditional) love that I received in Christ made me stick to Him for life. When I accepted Jesus into my life I had a very limited knowledge about Him but I knew that my journey of my new life had begun with Him...