I don’t even know where to begin with Kristina. She is an amazing ballerina, dancer, singer, actor and all things artsy. Her testimony is one that really touched my heart and one that I felt really drawn to — because in so many ways, I could relate to it on such a deep level. I don’t think I have related to someone’s testimony the way I have with hers before — and I truly mean that. But before we move onto her sweet, sweet Christian testimony of a transformed life after she came to know Jesus as a non-believer, if you have a testimony you would like to share, send an email to hi@truthfullymichelle.com because every testimony is precious and there is so much beauty in sharing and reading the testimonies of other girls just like you 🙂

Kristina’s Christian Testimony: A Transformed Life of a Non-Believer

Its always hard to put something as personal and holy as the story of meeting with Christ for the first time into words. How does one express the heightened emotions, the pain, fear, and great sadness of life before Christ, then explain the pure joy, and love and well, presence of God afterwards? My words will never be able to do it justice, but I will try my best.

Let’s start at the very start — where we all begin.

The Obsession with Image & Perfection

When I was growing up, my family didn’t really talk about God. My parents are classic Kiwis when it comes to faith. Don’t really want to think about it, don’t want to have an opinion about it and would rather remain as neutral as possible. So, I grew up simply not considering God at all.  As far as I was concerned, God was a whole lot less interesting to me than a certain fella called Santa Claus. I thought about Santa all year round.  It was no wonder I got the message early — if you are good, Santa will be good to you. If I am a good girl, life will be good. If I do everything I’m supposed to, I will get gifts.

I was obsessed with my image even as a small child. I needed to look like I was the best kid, even though I knew I wasn’t. Desperate for praise, I was obsessed with how adults, my parents and teachers saw me. One of my earliest memories is making sure I shared my toys with my siblings in public then stealing them right back when no adults were looking.

As I grew, this blew into full-on perfectionism. At university it became all-consuming. To maintain my sky-high standards, I had to study over 10 hours a day, not to mention handling all of the new adult responsibilities. I became a facade — a happy, successful image on the surface with a terrified, insecure, and frankly exhausted girl sitting underneath. I had no true friends, no-one knew the real me. I was stuck in a cycle of deep fear that I would never be good enough, then burning myself out by working to “improve myself”, then self-adulation when I was better than my peers, and then shame again when I wasn’t the best. I was so lost and lonely.

I couldn’t see it at the time, but looking back, the foundation I had built my life on was so unstable. To base my view of self from other achievements of short fallings was so unpredictable and ruined many relationships.

How Dare They Call Me a Sinner!

Throughout my Uni years, my two closest friends were both Christians. One friend, let’s call her Michelle, asked me along to the young adult’s group she attended after every Thursday after class. and every week I said no. I had study/practise/literally anything else to do. This continued for years, until one day she wore me down, and I at last agreed to go with her (how good is hindsight? What a beautiful picture of how God peruses us this paints. Michelle remains to be one of my dearest friends).

At the event I went to, I sat opposite a girl who was sharing her testimony with the group. I had never heard anything like it. I didn’t understand a lot of what she was saying, especially the part about Jesus. I hadn’t thought much about Jesus before that day, other than looking at him on a stained-glass window outside our local church. I didn’t know he was the son of God, and I certainly didn’t know what “dying for our sins meant”.

What got me most from her story was the life change.  She had once felt as lost and lonely on the inside as I felt and now she felt peace.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

That same girl ended up sharing the gospel with me a few days later. She explained to me that we are all sinners, and that there is nothing I can do to work my way to God. All I needed to do was accept Jesus as the King and ask for his forgiveness. And I WAS FURIOUS! How dare she call me a sinner, I’m a good person. I don’t do anything wrong; I get good grades and I help people. Who is she to call me out like that? I told myself I was never going back.

I was back the next day.

I never stopped going back.

Over the next 6 months, there were massive highs and lows. I got mad and then sad, then confused then hopeful then would try block it out, then repeat. But I always went back. Something in me had changed. But gosh, every fibre of my being tried to fight it.

Tried to Trick God, But He Didn’t Fall for It

After months of wrestling, I  decided to ask God to reveal himself. Sitting outside under the stars on a cloudy night at a friend’s bach, I talked to God for the first time. I said “God if you are real. Show me a shooting star”. There I thought smugly, now let’s see if God is real. I waited. And I waited. 5 minutes went by and no star. My heart began to sink. I realized with a shock that I WANTED God to be real. I began praying inside, “Please God, be real”. And then it happened. The sky cleared and I saw it. A blazing, bright star that seemed to travel across the whole sky. I yelped “Did anyone else see that???” and they all looked at me as if I were crazy. It all came to me in a moment that I had prayed “Show ME” a shooting star, and God had done just that.

“Ok God. So, you are there, you are real, but I don’t need you. I can do it on my own.” Right?

And then the most painful, and oddly beautiful month of my life happened. God began slowly and painstakingly revealing the depth of my sin. Literally the worst nightmare of any perfectionist.

I saw for the first time my obsession with perfection, my constant comparison game with those around me, my selfish ambition and cruel tongue. He brought me to himself in his perfect way and timing, until I could not refuse him anymore.

On the bathroom floor I was brought to my lowest point. Crushed under the weight of my sin, I prayed, “God I cannot do this anymore, Jesus take my life, make me yours. I want to be yours.” And that was the moment everything changed. God wrapped me in his love, and I felt pure joy. I felt weightless. Fully forgiven, fully loved, fully His. God had saved me from the path to ruin I was walking.

Perfection in Christ > Perfection in Self

Life as a Christian has not always been easy, but it has certainly been the best two years of my life. The challenges a Christian in the performing arts world faces will always be huge, but oh Lord how grateful I am that you have out there. God has changed my very soul. I no longer desire to be perfect, but instead want people to see the perfection of Christ. Instead of desiring to be loved by all, I now dream about loving others to the best of my abilities. Of course, This is all done imperfectly, but God and I are a team now.

If you are reading this and have never considered Jesus before, consider this. There is a God out there who KNOWS you. Not the you that you show to others, but the real you. He sees your deepest, most hidden things and he loves you. He loves YOU.  How incredible is that?

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:8

Testimonies from Other Girls in the Tribe

If you liked Kristina’s Christian testimony of her transformed life after meeting Christ, be sure to check out some of the other personal faith testimonies from others girls in the tribe!

—> You might also like Oyelola’s testimony: It Took a Brain Aneurysm for Me to Surrender

—> You might also like Hannah’s testimony: Finding Jesus in the Midst of Anxiety and Broken Dreams

—> You might also like Maclean’s testimony: How God Called Me to Be More than a ‘Good Church Girl’

—> You might also like Melissa’s testimony: Finding God Amongst the Anxiety & Broken Heart

The Ultimate Guide on How to Write + Share Your Testimony

One of the things where believers struggle is sharing their testimony. If you want to learn how to share your testimony with those around you in a God-honouring way, then the Ultimate Step-By-Step Testimony Template is perfect for you. This chic template was created to help women easily write, create and organise their testimony in a way that is gospel-centered, impactful for their audience and easy to understand.

It follows an in-depth, but easy-to-follow, seven-step formula…

– Identifying your audience
– What your life was pre-Christ
– How you came to know Christ
– What was your life like after Christ
– Your testimony from top to bottom
– Prayer for your testimony
– Take home notes from your testimony

You will be able to make the difficult task of writing your testimony so easy! 

Grab your copy today by clicking the image below. It is currently on special for just $38 $10.99. Limited time only.

Do you Have a Story?

If you’ve got a personal faith testimony or a story to share, please send me an email at hi@truthfullymichelle.com

I’d love to get in touch with you and share your beautiful story too!

Before You Go…

Drop a comment in the comment section below! And let me know whether you could relate to Kristina’s Christian testimony of a transformed life after meeting Christ! Let’s start a discussion!

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Hope to see ya there!

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