Because He doesn't judge my deeds the way I judged His, He forgives them. It's because He has enabled me to have the best, most exciting part of any testimony anybody could have, and it cost me nothing. I love Jesus because He paid for my sins with His life, not because I asked Him to, not because He had to, but because He wanted to, because He loves me. I love Him because He kept His promise when I didn't keep mine and because He never let go. There was nothing special about me, I was and am no different to anyone else and Jesus died for me in the same way and with the same love He has for you.
Salvation is a beginning that has no end.
It really happened As I look back over my life now, I can see moments when He was right there in front of Me and at the time I knew it, but I allowed the memory to fade. Thankfully the memories haven't all disappeared. For instance I can clearly remember my baptism when I was nine. Afterward I convinced myself that it must have been the distortion caused by the water over my eyes, but in my heart I know that's not true. I know that, like the bible says, when I went under I died with Christ and the He Himself pulled me out and raised me as a new creation.