My name is Matt Johnson, and the story of my life is one of how God has always wanted me.
I grew up blessed with loving parents who took me to church almost every Sunday and enrolled me in kindergarten through my senior year at a small Christian school.
If you asked me as a kid if I was a Christian, I would have said yes, if only because I was checking all the right boxes of going to church, memorizing scripture, and not cussing.
My personality has always been extroverted, and looking back now, I can see that in those early formative middle and high school years, above all else I really wanted to be popular, loved by others, and wanted.
After high school my social life had a big shift. I attended Texas A&M University, trading a high school with a graduating class of only 18 people, to a university which had an enrollment of almost 50,000.
This was really an opportunity for me to reinvent myself because I was meeting a whole new group of people. I didn’t have to be the awkward guy with only a few friends, I could really be whoever I wanted to be with this new group of people.
I started to go to parties, clubs, and it’s a miracle I didn’t fail out of my first 3 years of college. My friend network grew, I knew hundreds of people, and more importantly, they knew me, they wanted to be my friend.
But even with all of this popularity, I felt empty inside. It couldn’t fulfill me or make me truly happy.
Thankfully, Jesus still loved me, and he was pursuing me.
I still had plenty of Christian friends (Texas is in the Bible Belt of the USA, remember), and some of them were signing up to be counselors for a Christian camp called Impact, and I figured “I guess I’m still a Christian, how hard could it be to hang out at camp with my friends for a few days? I’ll sign up to be a counselor too.”
Soon after that, I found myself out at a dusty campground in the middle of nowhere.
Every night at the camp, there would be a worship session, and I remember sitting there in the dark under the stars, no distractions, really thinking about God for the first time in years.
I started to pray, and I asked God if he was real, and if he was, I asked him to speak to me.
That was a prayer that I prayed over the next couple nights, and finally, on the last evening of the camp, God answered.
One of the pastors at the camp had just finished speaking, and during the song the band was playing after, I felt God start to talk to me in my head. It wasn’t audible, but it definitely wasn’t my thoughts, they were clearly coming from somewhere else.
I knew they were coming from somewhere else, because the words were very convicting.
God very clearly told me that he loved me, but he also asked me that if I knew him so well like I claimed I did, why did I not love him back? Why was I trying to find my happiness in parties and popularity and not him?
I had no choice at that point, but to apologize to the creator of the universe, ask his forgiveness, and give my life to Jesus because he loved and wanted me and him wanting me was worth more than anything else.
My life immediately changed after this moment of giving my life to God.
He gave me a community of Christian guys that pushed me hard to be more like Jesus, and while I still messed up plenty of times, the trajectory of my life had really changed from that moment.
Jesus is now the source of all of my joy and fulfillment, and he has blessed me more than I ever could have imagined.
I want the same for you too.
How do you get that?
You start like I did at that camp many years ago. Say to Jesus:
“I believe you died for me, I’m done living for myself, and I want to live my life for you. Please fill me with your love and grace.”
What’s next?
Jesus will start to work in your life! And he wants you to learn more about him!
Download the Bible App or read the Bible free online, starting with the book of John.
And send me an email! I’d love to celebrate and encourage you in your new life.
Your Jesus-Loving friend,
Matt