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.
​
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

​I am 22 years old, the first born of three kids in my family. I am born again and I owe it all to Christ. I made the profession of faith quite young and can't quite remember the exact date but the year must have been 2006. It was in a crusade and after preaching on the cross, the preacher called forward those who wanted to be saved and I moved forward. That's when I repented of my sins and confessed Christ. My life afterwards probably even before I could generally be regarded as a good kid outwardly and in some respects inwardly (by my own judgement). I knew the basics of Christianity which was: be a good boy and you'll go to heaven. This probably could be attributed to the fact that I was born and raised in a Christian family my father himself being a pastor. But ideally my life was marked with a sense of awareness between good and wrong, my responsibility and impending judgment. Even what is usually said of pastor's kids that they are morally the worst, couldn't be said of me at the time and later on in life before coming to the knowledge of the doctrines of grace with the little wisdom I had, I thought to myself that probably my nature wasn't so violent, that I was in nature more inclined to behave in a good manner and not have undesirable passions as my peers. But now in retrospect I am convinced even then it was God's hand that kept me from sinning in the manner of other children. Fast forward to high school, still a good kid, top of my class even given a position in the Christian union though not a diligent worker. But then I joined university and in my second week or so, the friends that I had made went to one of their hostel to "chill" and while going about our normal conversation we could hear a guy next door sharing the gospel and (personally) the way he was engaging them fascinated me and I hope he knocked on our door which he did. Though he didn't share much since it was already late we exchanged contacts and said he would look for us or rather we could invite him anytime we were free. Classes started but after a few weeks or days he invited me to watch a video titled "God of Wonders" with some other first years he had shared the gospel with. The video must pierced my conscience in away because at the end when he wanted to leave I told him that I would love to receive Christ as a savior. This was because I saw myself as backslidden. He guided me in prayer which I did by myself and from then on we became friends. Close to the end of the year he invited me to a conference and upon attending I was amazed or rather shocked to find out that there are young people out there who genuinely love God and you could see it and I wanted that. As you would figure this made me stick closer to him if I hadn't already, maybe because I was in a way avoiding him knowing what he represented and being caught up with campus life. At the end of the conference he gave me a book titled the "Love of God" by Oswald Chambers. Read it, didn't "feel" much of it and soon forgot it. 1st semester was over but before going back home he gives me another book titled "Sovereignty of God" by A. W Pink. While at home still with the energy I had gotten while in campus I could read the bible even shut down the TV something which surprised my father just to read it. I also took up the book to read and that's when things became jumbled up. I could see its reasoning and to some extent approve of it but fear of falling to some strange things was more prevalent. This was due to my consulting my parents on what the book said. My father didn't give me a straight answer, I am not sure, my mother rebuked the book by just reading the first page and warned me this is one of the things she had told me about before joining university, that good people are lost in university because of some supposed knowledge they acquired. So I put the book away hadn't even finished it, had only gotten to the chapter of God's sovereignty in salvation. Went back to school and upon meeting my friend he asked me whether I had completed the book told him no and asked for a week to do so, which I did. Upon completion I accepted what the author taught but the only problem I had was if I was one of the elect. Seeing my life and there not being a way for me to know, and drowned in despair that I had no say in the matter I decided to let myself go. But that would prove hard to do as my conscience would not permit me some peace. So I decided to try and live rightly which was hard but couldn't give up. All the while I was continuing to learn more of reformed theology which has made such a tremendous impact in my life.
I thank God for the work he begun in me the race which am still running hoping and trusting that he will ensure its completion. 

I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a husband and father of two (the second born is a few weeks old only). I became a Christian in the 2011. However, prior to that, I grew up in the catholic church. I was baptized as an infant and later on was confirmed. I was very religious and appeared to many people as being well behaved and upright. However, even then, I knew that all this was just a mask hiding the true sinner that I was. I had no saving relationship with God and I delighted in my sins, not willing to let them go. But the turning point in my life was to come years later, in my first year in university. I joined the University of Nairobi in October 2010. In God's providence, I was immediately introduced to a Christian student ministry and was invited to attend their meetings and bible studies. It was during my first semester that I got to hear more about the gospel and began to understand why Jesus died on the cross. During this time, I got involved in a sin that was later discovered. I began to feel a deep sense of guilt for what I had done and this went on for a number of weeks. God mercifully showed me my own sinfulness and I knew that I deserved nothing but hell. But then the Lord opened my heart and for the first time I understood and believed that Christ really did die for my sins. My burden of sin and guilt was removed and I felt a real sense of God's love. From then on I desired to know God more and to know His word more. I desired to forsake my sins and to follow the Lord and serve Him. It has been a journey of growth and sanctification since I first believed, albeit with various seasons of spiritual dullness and little fruitfulness. But the Lord has kept me this far and I'm fully convinced that the One who begun a good work in me will complete it. All to the praise of the glory of His grace!