MEMBER TESTIMONIES: CLARA NYAMBURA

I am Clara Mwangi. I am 21 years old and currently a student at the University of Eldoret. Most importantly, I am a believer and a disciple of the lord Jesus Christ since the year 2016. I was born to a Catholic father and a Protestant mom.  When I was 13 years old I joined a catholic high school, and among other pre-requisites for admission, one had to be baptized in the Catholic Church. So I was baptized and later on confirmed at the age of 14. I held and practiced all Catholic beliefs and practices all in a bid to appear religious and have a right standing with God. However as I grew older, my mom started having serious conversations with me concerning the Catholic faith (she didn’t and still does not subscribe to most of the catholic doctrines). She challenged me to think about some of the teachings I received during catechism classes. So after I completed high school I joined campus, full of doubts and questions regarding the Catholic faith. I realized that all my efforts were in vain since despite trying so hard to live a morally upright life, I was still living in sin, and taking pleasure in it. And I realized that merely going to church or reciting prayers to saints would not save me from the guilt of sin. Deep down, I knew I was faking it, and putting up a front so that the world would see me as good, or religious. And therefore for a long time, in desperation, I stopped attending mass and instead chose to spend every Lord’s Day in my room, continuing in sin.

However in my first semester in the university, God was gracious enough to bring to my life, a lady who is involved in Christian campus ministry. Our first bible study together, she taught on salvation; what it means to be saved, how one can be saved and the necessity of salvation. It is in such bible studies, that I got to hear the Gospel being taught and slowly I started understanding that nothing –not my efforts or the works of my hands, or the multitude of prayers I make, or the regular attendance of  mass-  none of  that could save apart from Christ Jesus. This was in December 2016. Through her encouragement, I started reading the Scriptures even on my own, and I came face to face with my sinfulness. I was sick to my core, because of the way I was living my life- in sin, and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I understood that at that point, my standing with God, was that of a sinner, who deserves punishment.

But God was merciful enough to open my eyes, towards what needed to be done. I had to come to him in repentance and faith, and turning towards him in faith, I confessed my sins and repented of them. For the first time in a long time, I felt that weight of trying to be right with God through vain works lifted and I was free from sin and its guilt. I believed, not my in my vain efforts, but in the Lord Jesus Christ to save me.
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I continued in constant fellowship, with other young Christian believers in campus edifying each other through constant studying of the Scriptures and prayers, and constantly and intentionally killing sin in my life. I believe that I am still, daily, being made into conformity with the image of Christ Jesus.  Today, I have made it my life’s pursuit to live a life that will glorify God because it is my desire to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Even in moments of weakness, I still believe that God is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me blameless before the presence of His glory, so I faint not. Amen.

By Clara Nyambura