BREMEN, Ala. — Cold Springs’ senior Addison Raymond feels blessed to have a relationship with God and in this interview, she talked about how He has changed her life and shared her favorite Bible verse.
“God means the world to me. He introduced me to a new meaning in life and to live life in an honest, Christian lifestyle, like God intended. He gives me someone to talk to, like a friend who is always there for me. He is the only person who listens judge-free and without hate. Getting closer to God has made life easier to handle and makes my mental health easier to manage,” Raymond said, “My favorite Bible verse is Psalms 46:5: ‘God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.’ To me, this means that I will stay true to myself and not let outside opinions affect myself. I will stand through triumph with God by my side, and that He will help guide me.”
Addison wants to continue to spread her love of Jesus Christ to people of all ages and being a Godly role model for kids is at the top of her list as well.
“It means the world to me, and it makes my day when people who haven’t been touched by the word of God listen to my story and allow me to talk about my love for Jesus. I believe that it is our duty as Christians to spread the word of Christ,” Raymond said. “It is very important. In this day and age, there is so much evil going on in the world right now. There isn’t a bunch of Godly influencers around, so when you are in a position of power like I myself am in, you have to be your best self. While some kids might not have grown up Christian, the Christian lifestyle is one that teaches kindness and respect, and every child deserves that.”
She recently got baptized and she hopes that she has inspired a lot of people to follow in God’s footsteps one day. She has had struggles with her faith for a while, but one day, God began impacting her life in a big way.
“It was such a powerful experience, and I deeply hope I’ve inspired other young people to get closer with the Lord,” she said. “I was just always struggling with my faith, and one day, I woke up with an entirely different feeling and was way more confident and more motivated with the truth.”
Addison gave some advice to people who want a relationship with God but might be struggling or are new when it comes to doing that. She talked about what she has learned during her journey so far.
“Don’t force it but pray about it. I found that whenever I would try to force my faith or pretend I was somebody I wasn’t, I would just feel shame, and it would drive me away. During that time, I would pray, and I would tell God, ‘I want to know you, but I am struggling, and I need help,’ and that helped me. I would also say surrounding yourself with good Christian people helps too, because it’s just good in every field to have people to look up to,” she said. “Everybody’s walk with Christ is different, and that’s okay, because in the end, we’ll all walk together.”
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