Omorinsola Ajayi

I grew up in a Christian household my entire life. I was taught about Jesus and the Bible every Sunday at church. I knew the songs, the memory verses, the ten commandments and it was always my goal to work hard to be the good Christian girl. I always had deep convictions about the sins in my life which is why I would give my life to Christ again every time I felt I had ‘sinned too much’. A turning point in my faith was when I was 10 years old and I was giving my life to Christ again and saw my friend wasn’t doing the same. I asked her why and she told me that Christians can still sin. I did not know that. That was the final time I responded to an altar call.

My proceeding teenage years were still marked by me trying to work to earn God’s love and make it to heaven. This path inevitably led to spiritual highs whenever I felt like I was doing a good job keeping up with things of God, and spiritual lows whenever I thought I had messed up really badly and felt the need to hide from God. I was taught that your acceptance by God is based on how well you behaved and how well your life was going. I was told to work hard and do all that was necessary to make it to heaven. I soon realized that this was not sustainable which led to times where I would give up on trying to be close to God.

In 2018, I came to the United States for school and that was when my view of Christianity began to change. I started going to my current home church, Watermark Community Church, and I heard the Gospel preached in a way I hadn’t before. I realized that I had been living in a work-based faith instead of as a child of God saved by grace. I realized I did not have to work to be perfect for God to accept me, I just have to believe in work Christ did on the cross and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior for me to be saved. I decided to rededicate my life to God and fully surrender everything to Him. It has not been an easy journey as I have faced several trials, but I hang on to this verse that Jesus said “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”- John 16:33. This keeps me going and keeps me relying on God. Through talking to God, daily devotion and Christian community, I stay steadfast in my walk with Him.