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My idea of God was somebody very distant,
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not somebody who was wanting
to be involved in my life,
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but somebody who was
wanting to restrict my life.
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My name's Natalie, and this is my story.
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Before I became a
Christian, I was brought up
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in the Catholic Church, so every Sunday,
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we would go along to church and it just
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was something that we did,
it wasn't really something
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that I chose, and then when
I was old enough to choose,
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So I just started living
my life the way that I felt
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was a good life, but there
was still a part of me
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that was longing for more,
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and I wasn't quite sure what that was,
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but I knew that I wasn't finding it
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by living life my way.
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One day, I went to see
Machine Gun Preacher
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and I was watching this real-life story
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about a guy who had met Jesus and his life
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had been changed and he was going out
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and, you know, making a real
difference in the world.
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And I started asking
myself what difference
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it was that I was making.
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My friend who I worked
with, she would tell me
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about how she was going
to church and stuff,
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and so she'd invited me
along to church with her.
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I went along initially,
and I thought, oh you know,
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this is nice, it's, you
know, quite cheesy music,
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but it's quite good.
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And I remember the message
that was preached then
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about destiny and how there
is a purpose for your life,
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but it just didn't sink in.
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And so it was maybe
about three years later
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before I started coming along to church.
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All the while, she was
still praying for me
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and praying that, you
know, I would connect
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and that I would have that
relationship with God.
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When I came along one particular Sunday,
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I heard a message that was
answering the exact questions
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that I had about life and purpose
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and who it is that's giving you purpose
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and how it is that you're
to invest your life.
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It just kind of fell into place
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that it was real that God was wanting
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to be involved in my life,
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and that Jesus was real and he
made a real sacrifice for me.
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Before, there was a distant
God who was putting rules
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in place to kind of ruin all my fun,
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and now he is an every day,
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every minute part of my life.
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I love that's he's able
to make even the mistakes
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in your life really beautiful.
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It's only God who's able to do that.