My life is so much more fulfilling now

I don't think that I have ever doubted that there is a God, but for most of my life I manipulated what that meant to suit me in different situations. I was brought up in a loving environment with strong moral values and I guess I always felt that I was a good person and that that was enough to get me through life. Until I came to Nottingham I had very few decisions to make regarding my future, everything just fell into place and as soon as I came to Nottingham in 1996 I knew that this was the place for me.

This was my first time of living away from home and I arrived confident, happy and ready to make new friends. I spent several months spending most of my free time partying, going to bars and generally being a typical student. In my block in the first year there was one girl who was obviously different from the rest of the people I shared with. She hardly drank, she always appeared to be busy and most importantly she was always smiling. That was something that really struck me, while a lot of people were feeling stressed, tired and even lonely she always seemed so happy. She was my first contact with a Christian at university and her witness through her actions and lifestyle really said a lot to me.br>

Eventually I attended one of the Christian Union's evangelistic events at the university and it was there that I began to question where I was going. Looking back at this time everything seems to be a bit of a blur, everything happened so quickly. I began to think about the God I believed in and through conversations with various Christians started to realise how much I had taken for granted. I had seen God as someone there to ask for help when I was in trouble. I was continually asking for Him to give me things that I wanted but I wasn't giving Him anything in return.

It didn't take long to realise that a relationship can't be a one way conversation the whole time - I needed to take time to investigate the personality of God and to listen to his message for me by studying the Bible. At that time I played in a group with a friend from home who was a Christian and he took me to an Alpha course where I finally realised the reality of believing in God. To realise that God loved me and wanted to be in a relationship with me but all my life I had been hurting Him through my sin was quite a shock but it also made me discover how merciful and loving He really is. Even though I had hurt Him he still sent His son to die for me so that I might be saved. It was this truth that finally made me give my life to Christ.

That happened about 18 months ago and since then I have had various highs and lows as a Christian, through that time God has been constantly speaking to me and changing the way I live my life. My life is so much more fulfilling now, I have many very close friends at university and I have a real passion to know Christ. I am being baptised today as I know that it is something that God wants me to do in my life and it feels right to make this step now as I start my final year in Nottingham. For the first time I really need to put my faith in Him to show me where I am going from here. I want to publicly demonstrate my commitment to God so that I can share with others the love that I have discovered by getting to know Him.