Experiences with Death and Seeking Personal Salvation

"I am the ressurection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall not die." John 11:25-27

"not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." John 14:1-7

A month and one day ago I lost a friend, named Marissa, to suicide. I had been helping her in chemistry. Nobody really suspected that she was aching. She was not able to help herself. I feel that when people become that "low" we must not pull away from God, but restore our faith to its limits.
Romans 14:7-8 asserts, "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord." Because the Bible says this, I know that Marissa was with God when she died, and He was holding her through all the pain, whether she knew it or not.
Now, this brings me to a speculation on salvation. What must a person do to achieve it? How does a person go about seeking it?
I read the Bible, go to youth group/church, pray. I believe that if you are connecting with God, and love Him dearly, you will find salvation however you choose to do it.
John 3 describes Jesus speaking to Nicodemus who is a leader of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a Jewish group that often conflicted with Jesus, and they often did not see eye to eye. Nicodemus merely states that Jesus is a teacher sent from God, and that God is with Jesus. Personally, I think the conversation is odd, but it brings Jesus to say one of the most famous lines in the Bible: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life." John 3:16
Several passages in Romans emphasize this. "...for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes..." and "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Jesus died to pay for our sins; He is our whipping boy, for He feels the pain of all our sins, and takes them and forgives us when we accept Him into our hearts, and ask for His forgiveness. He seeks salvation for us, as we must seek salvation in Him.
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." Romans 5:1