My first encounter with God- Loved before I knew Him

 While some children remember Sundays as lazy days filled with cartoons and chores, for one young woman, they were sacred. For Nondumiso Nkambule, Sundays were never optional,    they were set apart for God. What started as a family routine became the beginning of a life-changing relationship with her Creator. 
“I grew up in a home where my mum made it clear: On Sundays, we go to church,” she recalled. “It was not something to argue about, it was how we lived.”
From early childhood, Nkambule was surrounded by faith, unlike many who find church boring or forced, she found herself falling in love with the experience. 

“I loved being in church, watching my mum worship, the way she prayed and spoke about God,  it made me want to know Him too,” shared Nkambule. Although she attended Sunday school and participated actively in church, Nkambule admits she did not fully grasp what it meant to accept Jesus personally. 

Reflective
 “I knew about God because of my mum, but I did not really understand what it meant to make Him the centre of my life.”
It was not until she visited another particular church one Sunday that everything changed. Sitting in the service, she found herself lost in thought not distracted, but deeply reflective. She started thinking about everything God had done for her. 
The blessings, the protection and the peace she had in her life even though she had not fully committed herself to Him. That moment became a defining one; she realised God had loved her before she even truly loved Him. “That shook me, I felt like I owed Him more than casual worship.”It was then that she made the heartfelt decision to give her life to God fully, intentionally and without reservation.
“It was not a loud moment; there was no altar call or spotlight it was just me and God, in silence, and I said: “I want to walk with you now.” Since that day, her faith has deepened beyond tradition. Now, it is not about just going to church, but it is about walking with God every day. She has found so much joy, love and peace in Him. 
Nkambule shared that she is no longer anxious about life because she knows who holds her future. Her story is a reminder that a personal encounter with God does not always come with thunder or applause sometimes, it is found in quiet moments of realisation. As she puts it: “My first real encounter with God was not loud, it was life-changing.”