Spiritual Autobiography

Spiritual Autobiography
My spiritual autobiography begins with one word: providence. Throughout my Christian life, I have always felt that I have been graciously chosen to serve the Father. It is clear to me that God had my story mapped out before I was born. Even my name, Joseph Martin, demonstrates His providence. Joseph means “increasing faith,” or “God will increase,” and Martin means “from another place or planet,” much like the word “mars” or “Martian.” I do believe that God is constantly increasing my faith—just as he did with Mary’s husband Joseph during the difficult circumstances they had with the Virgin birth. I also firmly believe that I have been made for a different place than this earth and that I am not to conform to the ways of this world but to anticipate the life I will live with with my Father in heaven.
I did not, however, always live with that mindset. From the beginning of my life, it seemed I was headed toward destruction. Born into a drug addict’s home, I had a few years with my biological parents; shortly thereafter, my father divorced and remarried. I continued to live with him and his second wife, but it was not much later until he went to jail for shoplifting and his second wife divorced him.
I was in second grade when I went to go live with my aunt in a small town. Things were going to be okay. I had a cousin my age to play with, and my aunt had a college education and a job to support my cousins and me. That only lasted four years, which took me to sixth grade. I was twelve when my aunt lost her job. She was worsening as an alcoholic and finally went into a mental health rehab facility. My cousins had a father to go to; I had no one left—or so it seemed, but God had a plan.
During the four-year period in which I lived with my aunt, I was introduced to church. A kid I did not like very well asked my cousin and me to go to Sunday school with him. It was a strange experience, but it was a place where my cousin and I found love and attention, so we continued to go. At the church we met a particular teacher and his wife and their three kids. Ironically, the three kids were the same kids my cousin and I used to throw snowballs at when walking home from school. One day, their mom had a talk with us, and she had her kids pray for us. Little did any of them know what God had in mind: it was this family that took me in after I had to leave my aunt’s house. They became my family. And because of their influence in my junior high and high school years, I came into contact with a real God and a real Jesus. I learned what it meant to become a real Christian—however, I did not become a Christian during this time. I wanted nothing but to be a part of the world and its idea of fun: drinking, smoking, sex, and etc. I remember times in which my youth pastor would walk in the front door of the house and I would walk out the back door—all so I did not have to talk to him. I still had much to learn.
During my senior year of high school, I went on a trip with Youth for Christ. After one of the group gatherings, we had a cabin discussion just before bed. At this time I confessed to my group, friends, and youth pastor that I would be willing to go to the lowest place in life if that is what it would take for me to follow Christ. It was the same year that I stayed up at night crying before God because He was calling me to follow Him and I just could not do it. My friends were way too important to me, and I could not give up my lifestyle. I told God, “No.”
My freshman year of college (about a year after the Youth for Christ trip) found me depressed and feeling lost. I had just gotten out of a really bad relationship, I was getting drunk all the time and I was experimenting with marijuana. I was at the lowest place of my life. I remembered that a classmate had invited me to Bible study one particular week and decided that I would go. It was during the closing prayer that I unexpectedly gave over my life to Jesus. I didn’t expect my response to the gospel! My life has been changed from that point on. It is because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that I was instantly given a new life and new desires. Over the course of the next several years I plunged into the Christian life: leading small groups, attending prayer meetings, going to campus ministry events, sharing my faith with non-Christians, and discipling and encouraging other Christians to seek after God. I am a perfect picture of God’s grace and how He can work through anyone, no matter where they come from.
Since the very beginning of my conversion, I have felt a strong leading to do God’s work. It was about a year after becoming a Christian that God started stirring within me a desire to do full-time ministry. I developed a passion to see adult Christians being continually transformed by God. Seeing people’s lives transformed by the Gospel of Jesus brings abundant joy to my heart; that is why I am pursuing higher education at Seminary. I chose Southern because I learned of the quality of faculty. I feel very strongly that I have much to learn from these leaders. I want to develop deeper disciplines, while also learning ministry essentials. I believe an education at Southern Seminary will aid me as a man of God who will lead others in ministry. I trust God’s providential handiwork to continue to increase my faith as I follow in obedience to His commands, and I anticipate what God will do in and through me at Southern.