My name is Kristin Rutledge and I am a 15-year old teenager living life to it's fullest. I made a profession of faith at the age of 5. I didn't really understand what it was, but I didn't think about it again until a few years later. When I was 9 years old, dad told us that we were going to be missionaries to Thailand. Then we got started on deputation. Sometimes, people would ask me what I thought about going to Thailand and being a missionary there, and most of the time, I would just say that I thought it was going to be an adventure. I never really had taken the time to think about it. The day we left was a sad one. But I only went, because I had to. I didn't want to go to Thailand. I wanted to stay right where I was. And when we arrived, I was so homesick that I would try my best to talk to my friends in America every single night. I knew why I felt this way, but just couldn't bring myself to admit that I wasn't saved. I guess it was because of pride. I was a preacher's kid and an MK and everyone thought I was saved. But then in family devotions at night, we started reading through Revelation. This scared me more than anything else. I spent many, many nights laying there looking at the ceiling, wondering if the Lord was going to come back then and whether or not I would go to Heaven. I even tried teaching Sunday school to make myself think that i was alright. But all it did was convict me even more.
Then one Wednesday night (September 26, 2012) at church, Pastor Srithone was preaching on being afraid to die. I knew he was speaking right to me. At the end of the message, during the prayer time, I told dad that I needed to get saved. He told me to wait until the service ended. But I couldn't wait and he took me out right then. He didn't have to explain anything, I knew what to do. I bowed my head and asked the Lord to save me. I was later baptized at the Baptist Camp in October of that same year. We remained in Thailand until September of 2014, when dad decided that it was time for our family to move back to South Carolina. Now our family is happily serving the Lord right where we are. |