Troy Joseph Benko. In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

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1 Troy Joseph Benko In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. -Matthew 7:12 The verse I have chosen has always followed me my entire life: this being pre-school, middle school, and now on to high school. The verse is normally stated, treat others how you want to be treated, but to me, it has meant more than that. It has been a rule that I follow each and every day. This is because God wants us to love each other. It doesn t even have to be love, it could be the way you treat that person and show signs of respect through body language and attitude. This verse shows that I am a child of God through how I treat family, friends, teachers, and strangers. Also, it will show in my sports, which are baseball and basketball, through treating my opponents with the most respect and having them give respect back in return. In conclusion, this verse plays a big role in my life, in my family life, academics, and sports.

2 Bradley Michael Blakemore I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. -Philippians 4:13 I chose this verse because it speaks to how I want to live life. I believe that if you truly work at something more than anybody else does, then you can be successful in that thing. This verse really speaks that lesson to me because I want to be a religious person, but sports gets in the way of that almost every single week. So just knowing that this verse is in fact true for anyone helps show me that I still can be religious throughout my week since I cannot be there on Sundays or Saturdays. I can help the kids who are struggling and try to stop some of the bullying in my school. I can reach out and help those who need help in my actions.

3 Alex James Corneillie There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28 The bible verse I chose was Galatians 3:38. I feel like the verse speaks to me because it says all are free. The verse states, There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Every day at church, we talk about all being free, not just certain people. I really enjoy that message because at my old church, they talked about all being equal, but they wouldn t let children take communion. It s not just the bread and wine that make me happy, but the fact that I am being given the option. All being welcome at communion is important because in the verse it say all are one in Christ Jesus. Also, there are parts in there that dispute racism. I really like that because in this society today, people are being mean to each other just because of their skin color or heritage. When the verse says Jew or Greek, I believe both sides have to make sacrifices to become one with God, but it is the right thing to do because all are one in God. I also like that male and female are equal because in the past, and even some places today, women are treated with no respect. I believe this verse is a vision of God that all are equal, and I will try to do my best to create that image.

4 Dean Lawson Coventry Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7 I don t believe the Bible was just written to keep a story preserved. The fact that orally passed stories eventually made it to scripture is, in a way, very inspirational. To know that people, through may generations and many hardships, kept their beliefs close to them until they could share his love with their children, is amazing. The bible isn t just a document to preserve the words of God. It s a sign that people kept his word close to them. The bible today allows us to share the words of God with anyone, to review them, and truly understand his word. This ties into the verse I chose, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. In this verse, it is stated that people can trust God with their anxieties and difficulties. People did this way before this verse was ever written and the knowledge that they could trust God with their anxieties and difficulty is something that most likely kept them going. When searching for a verse that spoke to me, I didn t know where to start. I thought it would be a good idea just to search Inspirational Bible Quotes and ended up finding this one. Only after I thought about it further than just the words themselves, and thought about what it really meant, I realized it is much more inspirational than it looks on the surface.

5 Kaedyn LaRae Forsyth Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1 My verse is Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For me, this means that having faith is having confidence in our hopes and having trust in what we cannot see. I didn t think that my faith was very strong at all. I go to church, pray at night, and say grace at the dinner table. However, these seem to be just another part of my daily life. I think that God exists, but my connection with him is not very strong. One of my friends is very in touch with God. Her parents are pastors, as well. She tells me stories about how God has talked to her. She also told me about this time when she was in her bedroom and Jesus appeared. My friend was angry with God at the time, but that all washed away when she saw Jesus. He was wearing an almost glowing white robe. She couldn t even describe how perfect it was. At this point, I definitely doubted my faith. I had never seen Jesus or God like that. I had never communicated with Jesus or God like that. I felt like I had no faith at all. Just recently, I chose this verse because I could relate to it. I didn t think I had a lot of faith until I found this verse. I now realize how much I trust in God. Faith is having confidence in what we hope for. When I am hoping for something, I pray for it. I think that I might not get what I want, but that s okay. I have confidence that everything will turn out fine, even if I don t get what I was hoping for. I trust that it is all part of a plan for my life. This is just a way to keep myself calm, until I started thinking about it. It turns out that I had faith that God had a plan for my life. Faith is also trusting God when we cannot see. To me, this means believing that God has ideas for my future. I cannot see what will happen years, weeks, or even minutes from now. I think I struggle a little bit with the unknowns. When it comes to my hopes, I am ok.

6 However, when it comes to all of the other unknowns, I can be a mess. I m one who needs a set plan. When something doesn t go according to plan, I start to worry and even get angry. I need to trust God more during these times. Having faith means walking blindly through life, while Jesus leads the way. Jesus is walking with us. He is headed in the same journey. When my friend told me about Jesus glowing robe, she said his sandals were very plain and worn out. I think this is representing how he is a leader, but he is still going on a long journey with us. His sandals show how he s walking with us on this journey we call life. I have more faith in God than I realized. I have assurance in the things I hope for and conviction of the unknowns in my life.

7 Adam John (A.J.) Giles You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. -Matthew 5:13 I feel that the bible verse Matthew 5:13 explains my relationship with God because I sometimes feel like I am a single grain of salt in a large ocean. I also feel that in the verse, the salt losing is saltiness may mean a person is losing their faith in God. Sometimes in the past, I have felt like my faith in God and the church had decreased, but confirmation has helped me to get my faith back. The verse said, But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot. I disagree with this idea that once you lose your saltiness, all you can do is be thrown out. My understanding is that, no matter how far you stray from God s light, he will always be there to welcome you and guide you back into his arms. I was unsure if I even believe in God or church until the beginning of eighth grade. I thought church was just a burden or chore I just had to sit through because I had trouble finding a relationship with Jesus. I would wonder to myself, if there was a God, why would he let things like divorce, murder, hatred, and everything else that destroys us as humans happen if he truly loved us. I lived with this thought in my head for a long time until I realized, God is not here to solve our problems. He is here to guide us and show us how to love others. It took me 14 years to realize that God had been by my side since day one, showing me the right path. He never gave up on me and he never will.

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9 Shane Olson Halingstad Ask, and it will be given to you; Search, and you will find; Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Matthew 7:7 I have never had huge troubles in my life, and therefore, have not needed to pray for myself much. Most of the time, I find myself praying for others around me. But I chose this verse because, to me, it means that God is always going to be there for you, all you have to do is ask him for help and trust him to help you with whatever you are going through. I think that prayer should be used in both small and large situations. One time a few years ago, my mom was taking my brother and some friends to Pueblo for a band competition. My mom had lost her glasses, which were very important for her to see far distances. Without them, she would have a hard time driving. She looked everywhere for her glasses, but couldn t find them, and everyone she asked had not seen them. My mom decided to pray and ask God to help her find her glasses. When my mom was in line at Chick-fil-a getting dinner, she recognized a woman who was also in line. That woman had my mother s glasses! That allowed my mom to safely drive the boys home. While it may seem like a small problem, the story spoke to me because it shows that God really does listen to our prayers. Looking back at my verse, I think that the message it is displaying is not always right because I don t believe God answers every prayer we have. This could be because he thinks that we should make our own decisions and get through the situation, or he wants us to take a different path than we think is best for ourselves. To me, praying is how we talk to God. But doesn t God already know the best path for us? Does he ever physically speak back to us? Do we really need to pray? I have never heard God speak back, but maybe I am not listening to him close enough.

10 This verse shows that praying can cure us from our problems in life. If we really want God to answer us, we need to put everything that everyone else is saying away and hear what God needs to say because I am sure it is important. My struggles are always louder than the solution to them, which is God. If I stopped thinking about the bad things, I could start hearing God more and find the solutions much easier.

11 Joel Josef Hastings As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God s works might be revealed in him. -John 9:1-3 This bible verse is just one example of healing I can find in the bible. I don t think we can take this message at face value. I believe that this verse has a far deeper meaning. In fact, I don t even know that this is necessarily a true story. From my point of view this is a metaphor. The blind man is a representation of our world full of hatred, anguish, grief, lust, and greed. The blind man is living in a dark place, as he cannot see light. Jesus represents the church, happiness, love, compassion, and God s message to the world. When Jesus disciples asked him what the man did to deserve it or what his parents did, Jesus replies that he has done nothing, nor had his parents done anything. This is representative of how we, as a world, have done nothing to deserve all of these dark, problematic challenges that we are facing today, but yet we still face them: hunger, poverty, war, depression. People in Haiti do nothing to deserve malnutrition, yet they are still malnourished. Later on in the chapter, when the blind man is shown sight, it is representative of us, the Jesus community, showing light to the world, allowing them to see fully. This message is telling me that I can be Jesus. I don t need to give sight to the blind. I just need to do my part. If I, as a child of God, can bring light to just one person in my life, show them the truth, and give them God s message, then I can be Jesus to them. I can cure their blindness.

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13 Delaney Copeland Lim For there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for we are all made one in Christ. Galatians 3:28 I am still growing. I don t think there ever is a point where you have reached the maximum spirituality in your faith. I believe you can always mature more in your relationship with God. I have always gone to church. We started attending Abiding Hope when my older brother, Evan, was three. Two years after my family started attending, I was born. Ever since I can remember, I would always sit in for the sermon instead of going to children s church. I would try to understand and take in the content. As the years have gone on, I have grown from understanding the sermons, to relating them to my life, to finally trying to apply them. There was never one moment for me that I just suddenly became Christian or found out about God. But as I have gotten older, I have identified him more and more in my life. I see God in the little moments. When I am creating community with friends, I ll get feelings of joy, wholeness, and appreciation of life. I ve seen God when people care for me or others, which then inspires me to continue trying to be caring. But most of all, I have realized that I really can t do this on my own. I have learned to rely on God and the community around me more than ever over the last couple of years. When I was four years old, I decided I wanted to be an actress/ musician. This has always been my dream and has led into a passion stronger than anything else I do. I remember a children s sermon in which Pastor Doug asked what we wanted to be. He then asked us how we could be the heart, hands, and feet while doing that job. I always had a strong idea of how I would use music and theater to inspire people and promote community. I saw it as an opportunity to tell stories about being a child of God, doing his work, helping others, sharing peace, love, and community.

14 But just like anything else, I had the world s point of view, too. I can t lie that being the one in a million to make it was an attention catcher. Or being the one out of my classmates to actually do something big. On top of that dream, I have always strived for perfect grades, perfect test score, lettering in basically everything, packing my schedule with activity after activity, all to get in the best college; all to be constantly #1. Now, don t get me wrong, I am not saying working hard and having goals and dreams is a bad thing. But, at the end of the day, I must turn to Luke 22:42 in which Jesus prays, wishing for God to take away the burden of dying for humanity, but finally says, yet not my will, but yours be done. My biggest struggle in my faith is to remember that God placed me on this earth with my talents to do work for him. To truly live into my identity as a child of God, I must look to him for direction of my future and not just my own hopes and dreams. I struggle with the idea of devoting the entirety of my life to God and sometimes even placing my trust in him that he will open the right doors to where he wants me. But each day, I am reminded in different ways of how God loves me and how he will take care of me. Living the life of the world will only leave me empty, searching for more, while living into my identity will bring me the feeling of wholeness that I believe all humans search for. As I said before, I am still growing. My journey in my faith has only just started. I have come a long way and have a long road ahead. But instead of focusing on the path ahead, I focus on the moment I am in now and how I can be the heart, hands, and feet now. I know there will be joy and there will be brokenness, so I choose to grasp onto the core truths in my life: I am loved and I am a child of God.

15 Stella Ann Nefs I hereby command you: be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. -Joshua 1:9 I am looking forward to my confirmation this May. In the future, I want to continue to find my relationship with God and what God means to me. I am grateful for all the years with Abiding Hope that have helped me on my journey to form a relationship with God. I picked the bible verse, Joshua 1:9 because I think it expresses one of my favorite things about my relationship with God. When I am sad, scared, hurt, or worried, I can pray to God and talk to him like a friend, which brings me comfort and helps me to feel safe. In addition to feeling comforted, as I continue to talk to God, I become closer to him, which brings me peace and trust in him and allows me to continue to grow as a person and face new challenges. Another aspect of my relationship with God that is important to me is, when I think about being a child of God, I sometimes change my actions or decisions to more fully love everyone around me. Knowing that I will always be a child of God makes me strive to be a better person so that I can spread God s love, even to the people I find hard to love.

16 Madison Marie Packard For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39 Romans 8:38-39 is very important to me. This verse strengthens my faith by reassuring me that no matter what I do, God and Jesus will always love me. With every passing day, my faith grows stronger and more fulfilling. It brings me great joy that I cannot do anything to make God love me less. I believe that I will make more mistakes as I get older, but I know that with faith I will be able to start again and be a better person every day. I know that I will do great things and positively impact many people in my life through God s love. He gives me strength, courage, and inspires me to share his love wherever I may go. Someday, I hope to make a difference in this world through love, life and faith. God s love is the most powerful thing, and I know that I will continue to do great things through it.

17 Kaitlyn Ann Rapp Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:2 I grew up attending church every Sunday, being told over and over again that God is there, God is with you. But I never believed it because then, I could never understand the presence of God. I was told to memorize stories about people name John, Matthew, and others, that had no meaning to me, so I never truly understood. Every church service, I would dress up nicely, sit next to my family and was told multiple times during the service to be quiet. God had no meaning for me in a huge portion of my life. Because of these unfortunate circumstances, the only thing I looked forward to in church was the bread. As a young kid, and even now some days, if could get away with it, I would sneak up during the last song and manage to find where they always hid the extra bread. I wasn t the only kid who did this, though. In some cases, I would find a line of young children dressed to their parent s likings, just to get a sliver of bread. For me, I would choose the biggest portion I could get. Then, as we grew up, church became a rare event. With friends, sports, and family in the way, I was pushed further and further from finding God. It was not until the middle of last year when I started to notice that my friends would attend several different churches. I was dragged to a service by my close friend, thinking this was another waste of time. But after the long break away from God, I could physically see God in the hearts of people surrounding me. This was one of the first nights that I was introduced to God in a way that would actually mean anything to me. I started to begin to go on retreats for different churches, trying to experience the presence of God as many times as possible.

18 My verse relates to me because I was being pulled away from an opportunity to meet Jesus in my heart. So I allowed, opened up, and gave my life to God, knowing he will love me. I believe the meaning behind my verse is that you do not conform to the pattern of this world, meaning that what the world deems as successful, is set up as the standard to which all worthiness is measured. I believe that this means that God doesn t use the same scale. He knows our hearts - he created them and looks to them to determine ourselves. Don t change a good heart to fit into a hard world. God sees you fully and knows where your worth lies. The verse focuses on introspection and humility. From the beginning, God has said that we were made in his image as an act of love. We must be strong enough to look past the world, to see ourselves in him. That s the self that is worth finding. I now know God is with me.

19 Bekah Grace Sandman I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is the strength and my might; he has become my salvation. -Psalm 118:13-14 I chose this verse for my faith statement because it shows that God is always there for me. When things in life bring me down, I know that God will help pick me up. No matter what I go through, God will always be there for me and he will help me overcome the obstacles in my life. But this shows that no matter what, God will be there to help guide me through it. No matter what I go through, God will be there to defend me and this verse helps show it. When I am falling, the Lord will help me and give me strength. He is my salvation, meaning that he will try to keep me from harm, which is comforting to me, knowing that he will try to protect me. I know that no matter how badly I mess up, God will always forgive me and walk with me through all stages in life. He will be there to protect me as much as he can and I am not alone. God will help me when I am falling, which is when I feel the most alone. This verse is comforting to know that I don t have to go through anything alone, without the help and support of him and others. Over the past few years in confirmation, I have felt a closer connection with God. I have learned more about him and how he works in and through people. Now I understand that he can use me to help others and use others to help me.

20 Sophia Shelby Scott Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. -Joshua 1:9 Some people say they have never seen God and though I have never physically seen God, I see him in others and sometimes in myself. I picked this verse because it shows that you are never alone, especially when you are going through a rough time. When I started confirmation, I was going through a rough time. I learned from this wonderful experience that I am never alone, whether God is by my side or the people I have been blessed to have in my life. Like I said before, I was going through a rough time when I started confirmation as a 7 th grader. My only friend was this one girl who I had been friends with for awhile. Every day, she tore me down and made me feel like I was not good enough. She controlled me and made me live in fear. If I didn t start confirmation, I don t know where I would be right now. My journey with God these past two years has taught me to be strong and courageous, no matter what. Not only that, but the people who have been with me through confirmation have made me strong and made me know that I am never alone. Between the guides, the pastors, my entire family, especially my parents, and of course, God, I have learned to be strong and courageous and not to fear because I am never alone. Not only does this verse show me to be strong and know that I am never alone, but I want it to show others that they are not alone because no one is. Everyone is strong and courageous, and though there are times we feel discouraged and afraid, I want everyone to know that God is always with them and so are many other people. You may look at this verse and think differently, but this is exactly what it tells me.

21 Charles Edward Wagner Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. -Matthew 19:26 Matthew 19:26 relates to my life of never giving up. I know life can be challenging at times, but it will always get better. Knowing and praying to God gives me the strength and will to be strong and determined. God is always in my presence in good times and bad, so there is nothing to fear. God guides me to solutions to my problems and never turns away. God can help change your life in a second by believing he is with you forever and ever.

22 Jacquelyn Ann Weaver Neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:39 The bible verse I chose was Romans 8:39. It says, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I chose this verse because it reminds me that no matter what I do or who I become, God will still love me. Knowing that is really important to me because I have had a really hard life. Sometimes I feel alone, even though I m not. To me, knowing that someone will love me and help me through all my hard times means everything. When I was a little girl, my parents got divorced and it really affected my brother and me. Now I have a blended family, which isn t that bad, but it has its setbacks and moments. This gives me hope that when tough times come, I will get through it. Through my life, I want to share that hope with others.

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