My name is Taylor Terzek. I am from just outside Charlotte, NC, USA, and am currently a junior at Liberty University studying Biblical Studies. I love the Lord with every particle of my being only because the Savior has first loved me. I devote my life to allowing God to maximize my faith in surrender to Him. All my qualification and achievements are as rubbish to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ; I live by grace alone. 

Here is a link to my testimony; I hope it encourages you in your pursuit of God.

http://tterzek.tumblr.com/post/3460554627/practical-terminology-testimony

I was born into a loving, seemingly normal, middle-class family. We rarely struggled with finances, and we had little to worry about. When I was of the age of nine, we moved to Charlotte, NC, due to my Dad’s work-related relocation. Upon the search for a new school, my parents wisely decided to enroll me into a private Christian Academy. This was when I was first introduced to the real Jesus Christ.

Now I had heard the name of Jesus, and it was obvious that my family were believers in the God of the Bible, but not in the way my third-grade teacher described him. My mother was raised by a Southern Baptist Evangelist and his wife, and my father was raised Catholic in New Jersey, so the ‘religious game’ was well noted by my parents. I do not know what urged my parents to begin attending church, but soon I found myself attending a Christian school on the weekdays, and a Church on a Sunday. I was surrounded by the name of Jesus. In my child-like curiosity, I began to seek out all the craze around this man.

The next thing I remember, my family was undergoing a transformation, and I was in the middle of it. One week, my church held what was called a Revival; this event was centered around personally feeling God’s presence in one’s life. Quietly sitting in the pew one night, I saw my mother approach the altar. She had decided to trust in Jesus as her Savior (In a process called ‘Rededication’). The words that rang in my ears were: trust and savior. I patiently tucked the thought into my mind, and continued on my way. The next night, or night after (I do not recall perfectly), I saw my father do the exact same thing. It hit me. Jesus died, and He died for me. I realized that my parents were not simply acknowledging that Jesus died for them, but they were “trusting” Him. Their belief was leading to a response: faith, hoping for something unseen; Jesus’ lordship in their lives. They were giving themselves away to Jesus because He gave Himself for them. At the next opportunity, I prayed for the God of the universe to enter my life as King; to reign over my will, giving up my ambitions for that of His. He gave His life for me on the cross, and I will give my life for His will on this earth.