Ever since I was seven years old, I had nosebleeds every night. I would have to wake up to wipe blood from my face and stop the bleeding from my nose. I’d already had a procedure done on both nostrils, but it did not help. This happened for almost a year, and in that time, I prayed to God. Every day, I wished that my nose would stop bleeding. It didn’t seem like God heard my prayers because nothing happened at first.
Then, one day, my nose would not stop bleeding the whole day. The trash was full of bloody tissues. Since I already had a procedure done, the doctors couldn’t recommend any good treatments for us. That night, my mother and I kneeled down, and we sincerely asked God to heal me because everything else had failed. The next morning, my nose stopped bleeding! We were very thankful that God stopped the nosebleeds that day, but we didn’t think it would last. However, I haven’t had any major nosebleeds since then. I might have a small one every six months, but nowhere near as bad as it used to. This is truly a miracle. From this experience, I learned that God hears all of my prayers, and He listened to everything. This was my first encounter with God.
At the time, I was young, so I was not able to fully understand who God was. However, from my experience, I learned that He existed and was very powerful. Through my parents and my church’s sermons, I was able to learn more about who God was and how Jesus was sent to die on the cross for my sins. I believe in Him because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross to forgive my sins. As I grew older and became more mature, I came to fully understand the weight of Jesus’ actions, and I fully accepted Christ as my Father, savior, and forgiver of sins.
Since my initial encounter with Jesus at seven years old, He has continued to reveal Himself to me. The most recent encounter I experienced was when I broke my left pinky finger playing dodgeball. This prevented me from playing bass for about three months when I was waiting for it to heal. While I was waiting, I was unsure about God’s plan for me. From my perspective, I thought I was doing a good thing playing bass for the church band every Sunday. I enjoyed serving Him through the gift He gave me, and it didn’t make sense that I possibly might not ever be able to play bass again from a simple injury. However, after waiting for my finger to heal and many sessions of physical therapy, I was able to use my finger again to play bass. This encounter taught me to stop worrying about tomorrow because everything will happen according to God’s will. It’s hard to let go and rely on God’s faithfulness alone, but God revealed that He listens to my prayers and I will always be safe in Him. By putting my faith in Him, I have let God guide me through other parts of my life, such as my college application process. Attending a Christian college was an important part of my college search, and it is heavily influencing my decision in what college to attend.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Isaiah 41:10, which says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” This verse shows how my strength is in God, and my faith in Him is what truly matters in my life.