It’s been unreal since then

Nelly’s story

Hi, my name is Nela and I am 24 years old. I came from Opava, but for the last 5 years I have been living in Brno. I study at the Faculty of Medicine there.  I have been a believer for 4 years and I have been working in a youth group for the last 3 years. 

I do not come from a family of believers. I didn’t know any Christian until I was 18 years old. I thought about Christians as “people who go to church on Sundays.” My family is really great though. I have 3 siblings and my parents always wanted for us to have enough of everything. They always wanted us to have the right values ​​and especially a good education. Me and my brother had to study a lot. We weren’t allowed to go to parties or trips with friends. I became a big introvert. I didn’t have a lot of friends or hobbies. I didn´t know what to do or who I am. It bothered me quite a bit for a while. My parents had a hard time and argued a lot when my siblings left home for college. I felt lonely at that time. I felt there was an empty space inside me that should be filled. But I didn’t know how. I found out that boys were interested in me when I was about 15 years old. This attention felt good. 

Over the next 5 years I went from one relationship to another. Every relationship ended worse than the previous one.

After these 5 years I knew that it couldn’t go on like that anymore. That it didn’t make sense and that my inner empty space was still the same. That I still didn’t know where I was going and what I would like to have and what I would like to be like. I felt worse then before. I felt inferior.

My best friend Jana was here for me then. She became a believer probably two years before me when we were 18 years old. I saw such a huge change in her. She came from a similar environment to me. I saw that suddenly she was resolving conflicts differently and that she cared about people and about me differently. That she’d found hope in her life. She had the attitude that “no matter what happens it’s fine.” I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand this attitude. When I was 20 years old, I came to see her. It was after these 5 years of bad relationships. I said to her: “I don’t know what happened to you but I need this change as well.” So she showed me God then. We  together and she took me to a youth group. It took a while, but then I could know God too.

Since then it’s been unreal. God has taken care of me. And what I learned about Him was that every life has value and meaning. 

That we are not a defective or by-product of any process, but that each of us has been created carefully and are very valuable. That each of us has our great sides, gifts and talents. Each of us has things to do to make Him happy. Man’s worth is not in other people, but in God, and that is the solid foundation. 

This gave me a great hope in life. If you felt or still feel similar to how I felt, that life is meaningless, I would like to support you and encourage you. Invite God in your life if you don’t know Him yet. Don’t be scared to tell Him that you want Him in your life and you want to get to know Him. I believe He will come and do great things with your life. It was like that with me. Life with Him has a meaning and it is great.