Hello, my name is Scott Helsing. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share with you how I came to Jesus Christ. I was born into the Methodist church and was dedicated as an infant. I enjoyed a loving family and church family growing up who helped me understand what it means to be a Christian. In February of 1986 when I was almost 13 years of age, one of my sisters passed away in an auto accident. That was obviously a very tough and confusing time for me, and I strayed from God as a result.

However, this did not last for very long, as I was talked into joining a youth event at my church in June of the same year. I experienced a lot of realizations in those 2-3 days, but the main one was that God had a plan for me. I came to understand that the hardest time in my short life happened because this was God’s path for me, and it was my responsibility to accept this and learn from it. I came to understand much better what it really meant to accept Jesus Christ as my savior, and so I did.

In the 35 years since that moment, I have loved our God and accepted Him as my father, but have also strayed in lesser ways more than once. Every time this has happened, there has always been something that reminds me of whom I really belong to, and my steps have been nudged back in His path. The years I have spent helping guide my own children as toddlers, when they struggled in just learning how to walk, is a great example of what God must have been doing for me. His love and continual guidance was always there, all I had to do was listen.

The most recent example of His guidance was in our move to southern California. I had other options when it became apparent we needed to move from Virginia, and I took an employment opportunity that made sense to me based on what I wanted for my family and I. It only took another 3 months from that decision to see how wrong it was, and Lee Ann and I’s only prayer at that point was to ask the Lord for one path moving forward. He provided just that, one employment opportunity instead of the multiple ones I had before. I listened this time around, and that led us to Orange county and GCO.

It’s easier to see how this all came to be now, but during the stressful life situations we all experience the only way through them is knowing that we can talk to Him, trust in Him and let the path be shown to us. This is what God has told us in his Word, as in Psalm 48:14, “...that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever”. My time in His creation has shown me that I can trust in Him without fear of being forsaken, and that I will be presented in the end blameless, because He chose me and I have accepted that truth. Thank you for listening and being with me here today.

Zion Ma