Hi, I’m Nora Barth. Some people know me as Nora, or “duct tape girl” “bracelet girl” “explorer”, I get them all. Nicknames are just a way to remember my little quirks or traits., and I have a lot of them…yet God loves me anyway, not just anyway, especially this way. I’ve learned that now, and not only do I know it in my mind, from reading scripture, I know it in my heart, from experience.

I feel like God has brought me to Him, and given me the amazing experiences I have had, because He wants me to be able to share them, and to change other’s hearts through the words that He writes through me. I took foundations because I knew that God wanted me to be drawn closer to Him. I figured a small group would really help, and I really wanted to share my testimony. I had written my original testimony a few months ago, in October I believe. I was proud of it, because it was about how God had given me this amazing experience that I just could not believe. I wanted to be able to share, because as soon as something good happens to me, I want it to happen to everyone else. In the beginning of Foundations I told mike that I had my testimony ready. He told me, that it would change after taking foundations and that I would have a lot of different points to make, especially with the retreat coming up. I said “ok” But in my heart denied him, and told myself my testimony was perfect.

I’ve wanted to be one of the girls that went to a church every Sunday all her life, since as long as I can remember. My family was never “religious” they believe in letting you find your way to where you want to be. Especially my dad. My parents were separated when I was seven…I was responsible for my two month old and 5year old brother till my mom got a steady job, when I was 9 and a half. My dad moved in with my step mom when I was still in 3rd grade, and it had been 7months since the “trial” separation. They got married 2 months after the final divorce. My brother was two then. In 7th grade I was invited to youth group by Katlin Mcfadden. I always wanted to know about Christianity, the only thing I heard was what my uncle (the Priest) had said during family reunions…I don’t know as much as I would like, but I have been going basically every Friday since Katlin invited me. I went on last years retreat, and am now doing church activities Five days a week. I’m in the youth house all day on Wednesdays doing volunteer work, and I’m finally writing my REAL testimony…My faith really started I guess, on last years retreat.

Last years retreat was not a whole lot for me. I went as a “Christian” but, in reality, my Christianity had just started out…I wasn’t into worship, I didn’t know much about the bible at all…I was so lost. I found it very hard to bring myself to that Foundation we all seem to know as Jesus. It didn’t effect me, and didn’t seem powerful, so it wasn’t that memorable for me. That experience rolled off my back, and summer came around all too quickly. Into depression I sunk, and was so far from God, I can’t even bare to imagine now. I did things I shouldn’t have, thought things I shouldn’t have, and said things I shouldn’t have. My reality had really always been the world, and even more than ever, it was then. My friends weren’t Christian, and I barely went to Ground Zero. I used to come in every Thursday and help at the youth house, and over the summer, I might have come in 4 times total. I don’t know how I had considered myself a Christian. After summer, I was still sick with a really bad problem. I slept 18hours a day, and really messed up my body. In September I started to force myself out of bed at least on Fridays every week so that I could begin to grow in God. I started to come back and my life changed more and more. Little by little the light that had once filled me, had returned. My mom told me that I had that twinkle in my eye again. People around me told me “I changed” and that “I had become like someone I didn’t used to be”. Some loved it, some not so much. I tried to be the best I could, and God had given me signs that helped me know He was there. My sickness was cured, and I began to live normally again, God really helped me through that. I think our relationship really started, October 24th 2003. I wrote a song that night also, and It’s helped me through a lot of problems, really, it’s an amazing way that God has worked through me.

This past retreat (as I’m writing this I just got home from it) altered my entire view of everything. We had a service Friday night, where we all wrote down the things we wanted to surrender to God on this small yellow sheet of paper. I sat there thinking “I’m fine with God, I love my relationship with him, and I don’t think there’s anything I need to surrender to Him”…Silly Nora!! All of a sudden my hand started writing words that I barely got the chance to read. I hate writing with a pencil so I wanted to know why I just kept writing…Silly Nora!! It’s God. I looked over my paper, there were so many things, He wanted me to realize I’m not perfect…and He told me to quit acting like I was. Deep down the insecurities inside of me are overwhelming and so hard to deal with, but that night God told me, “Nora, be quiet, and listen, just look around, and see those faces…look at that Cross, and be like that…be like Jesus. Don’t try to impress anyone, don’t try to impress yourself, be who I want you to be, and love everyone with all your heart.” He spoke to me in a way that only then could I have known how to listen. I prayed that he could make me more sensitive to his spirit…Yes that is what he did. I didn’t expect it, but every hand that held mine, every embrace, every prayer said for me. I could feel this pounding light flowing through my body and theirs. Every person that looked over, and smiled, gave me a comforting look, God’s light just surrounded me. Every heart that reached out to God that night, I cried for, and I cried to God to make me one of them.

I could tell you hours of stories, and I could tell you what a terrible life I had. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me and I don’t want to feel sorry for myself anymore. I could tell you so many things that you might not want to hear, but over these two years of going to Ground Zero, knowing Christine, Mike, Drew, and all these incredible youth leaders…There are only a few things that are completely clear. The rest a still a blur, but me and God are getting there. I know now to never take something for granted. I cant count the people I have taken for granted in my life…I’d probably just feel horrible if I did…but God will NEVER take you for granted. I know also that His Love is IMPOSSIBLE to understand. I know that when someone hurts me, or gets me upset, I shouldn’t get angry with them, or hold a grudge, because if they were taken to heaven the next day, I would want them to know how much I really did love them. A great friend once told me to be thankful for their life because without them, you don’t even know what might have happened. Every person I’ve encountered was there for a reason. I’ve learned that from God. I know now that I cant just think “oh what a coincidence”…In Life Teams someone said that “Coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous” and I believe that is true with all my heart. Every thing I’ve gone through, longing to be a girl that grew up with God, and not a broken home…was for a reason. Seeing my dad suffer as a non-believer, and hoping with all my heart that my brother wont die and go somewhere, where I’ll never see him again, it makes me realize why God has put me where I am. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” and Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together, for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them.”

Some of the people in this youth ministry have been the most amazing influences on me, and I know they aren’t perfect but they’re about as close as I can imagine sometimes. I know that God has put them in my life and I know that nothing can separate them from me, and me loving them, just as nothing can separate me from God’s love. (Romans 8:38).

In all, I’ve learned that God is with us no matter what. I’ve gone through hardships and he’s been waiting for me every step of the way. I finally took the chance to open the Door, and there he was with open arms. Praise the Lord, and I’m finally home.

My favorite verse will always be Psalm 23:4 “Even when I walk through the valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” It was the first part of the bible I ever heard, and to this day, it is still the most comforting.