I’ve heard the testimonies of others and felt a little inadequate sharing my own. God has been faithful in my life. I didn’t always understand what that meant, but now I do.

God’s faithfulness has taught me how to rely on a heavenly Father, when my earthy father left me, my sisters, and my mom. I know with everything in me that coming to know Jesus protected me from missing a guy who didn’t want me.

My mom talked about Jesus for as long as I can remember. She took me and my sisters to church every Sunday, we prayed before meals, and I would often see her praying by herself. We used to give her such a hard time. It was probably a battle for her a lot to get us to church, but she still put us in the car and we went.

That was all God and her faithfulness to Him.My mom put me in the sports program here at Hillside when I was 5. I did not like sports – I wasn’t very good at them. But she wanted me to make friends here so that coming to church wasn’t such a struggle. So, every year she signed me up for baseball, soccer, flag football and basketball. I complained a lot, but she still took me.Something happened on every team I was on. Coaches encouraged me, they high-fived me, they prayed with me, talked about Jesus with me, and even though I wasn’t very good, these guys made me feel like I mattered. I mattered to them, and I mattered to God.

That was all God. He is so faithful.

He did that. He put those coaches in my life – good men – looking out for me. I felt important. I had one coach who invited me with his sons to Raging Waters. I was little, and he went down a lot of slides with me. Later I found out, he wanted to do that because he had done it with his own sons, and he wanted me to have a dad to go down the slide with.

That was all God.

When I got baptized at Hillside in 2016, I did it because I wanted God to know I saw Him. I felt Him in my life. I know He led me to good men, who would teach me about Him. I felt like I was saying, “Thank you God, I see you. You are so faithful to me.”My life was never bad. I lived with my mom and three sisters. It was loud. The dinner table was loud (which, by the way, it’s still loud when we all get together). My mom never gave up on getting me to church. She found all sorts of ways to connect me. And the push back I gave her, only made her try harder.

That has to be all God.

Even though Jesus was at the center of my life, and even though I had come to know His faithfulness, through the faithfulness of others, I still struggled to feel like I was good enough for it.

Then came the next thing. My mom insisted I go to a community group that was just starting for high school boys. A lot of guys were signed up for this group. I remember arguing with my mom as we drove up Haven. She said I needed to go at least three times.

Jared got me volunteering with the Production team here at Hillside, where I have been regularly serving for the last two years. That team has become family.God has continued to lead me to great men. Joel, Edwin and Kyle have taught me skills – real life skills – but more than that, they have modeled a Christian walk. They teach me about life every day.That is all God.

God is so faithful, and I am so grateful. I’m grateful to my mom, who I wasn’t always so kind to. I am grateful for my loud sisters, who have taught me how to listen, because now, when everything around me is quiet, I hear the voice of God. My life could have gone differently; but good people got behind me and pushed me when I didn’t want to push myself. I am so blessed.

That is all God. He is so faithful.

By: Matthew Love
High School Ministry Senior, Class of 2024

Matthew Love is a recent graduate of Claremont High School. His plans after High School include attending Chaffey College before attending the University of Laverne to study digital media and technology. In his free time, Matthew will continue to serve Jesus in his work at Hillside, while also continuing in a career of Photography & Videography.