My Testimony: Part 1

We will overcome // By the blood of the Lamb // And the word of our testimony // Everyone overcome - Jeremy Camp

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Everyone has a testimony no matter how big or small. For me, I never thought to share my story because it wasn't one of those "my life changed in a specific moment" stories. Growing up in the church makes it hard to see the exact point when my life changed. One night after a challenging day, I made it to prayer and worship night at the Prayer House. That night God showed me that I CAN share my story. I need to share my story. As I share my story there are many different aspects that go into it. This first part is the general overview. If it seems choppy it's likely because there are deeper pieces missing. I hope my story encourages you and shows God's glory.

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Younger Me-High School

College Years

Now

I grew up in the church. I went to every event held at church, including VBS, Sunday school, and Wednesday nights. When I was 4, I went to a VBS at Bethel Church. As a child, they constantly teach about God's love for you. I decided then that I wanted to give my life to Christ to receive His love. Life went on, and I didn’t really grow closer to God because, for the longest time, I didn’t know that being a Christian was about having a relationship with God. I thought it was about how much you knew and how often you went to church.

In fourth and fifth grade, I felt hopelessly lost. I had moved to a new state. I didn’t have close friends, and I didn’t go to events for my age group at church. I was scared to get involved because I didn't want to risk losing everything again. The summer before sixth grade, I decided to go to camp because my parents wanted me to, and I thought it would be fun. I wasn't wrong. That summer, I rededicated my life to Christ in hopes of growing closer to Him. I also got baptized after camp, three days before my birthday. I started attending small group and preteen services regularly. I even started serving. Life was good. Then seventh grade came around, and I changed schools, and I felt like I had to start over. I started to isolate myself, and I ended up falling into depression. By the end of seventh grade, I hit a low point where I didn’t know how I was going to keep going. I tried reaching out to God, but I really wasn’t sure how. I didn’t try to talk to other people because I thought they wouldn’t understand. It wasn’t until the middle of eighth grade that I really started to experience a large growth in my relationship with Christ. It was all because my friend decided she wanted to watch a horror movie for her birthday. I couldn’t sleep for weeks, and I didn’t know how to deal with that. Since I was staying up late, I decided I would read the Bible cover to cover. It was the best decision of my life. I got to learn more about God, and through prayer, I was able to lean on Him and grow to trust Him more. I was still dealing with depression, so I decided to give that to Him too. Through my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I felt like I was on the right track in life.

During my junior year, I decided to go on a mission trip to Mexico. It was definitely an eye-opener to the world of need that is in our own backyard. When I got back, I started looking into other mission trips. One of the ones that stuck out to me was Institute for Missions, which I had grown up hearing about. After signing up, one of the leaders told me she thought I could do the 2-month trip. I prayed about it, and I felt that was where God was calling me. I felt totally on fire for Go,d and I thought I could do anything. I ended up hanging out with the wrong crowd in school, and I pretended to be friends with a guy I liked, but we acted like we were boyfriend and girlfriend at school. After graduating, I went on the mission trip, which took me out of the unhealthy environment I had found myself in. The trip helped me to reevaluate what I wanted in life. One Sunday, one of the co-pastors started a series on wisdom. God definitely spoke through his sermons about who He wanted me to be and what He wanted me to do. Then, there was my housemate. She said it wasn’t easy, but that a relationship with God was more important than anything else. Thanks to receiving God's wisdom through others, I decided not to date anyone during my freshman year of college. It ended up being an amazing year of growth and development in Christ.

When I started my sophomore year, I decided I wanted to study in Spain, which was a great experience, but I went into it without consulting God. I prayed for the funds and that everything would work out, but I didn’t pray for a community or for God to prepare my heart or even whether He wanted me to go or not. Once again, I fell into the wrong crowd, trying to get as many experiences as possible. It wasn't until near the end of my time there that I realized I wanted to get involved with the Christian community, but it felt like I had already gone too far into my worldly desires to turn back. When I returned from Spain, my parents pushed me to be a leader at camp. I felt too unworthy and unclean to be a leader. But I went, and the theme for the week was about living a renewed life for God and what He has in store for you. During that week, God showed me I am worthy, clean, and whole in Him.

Starting the school year, I was doing well at church and in my relationships, and then my family moved to Michigan. I felt like I had lost my support system. I experienced high anxiety and started slipping back into depression. I overcompensated by pushing myself to serve at church in hopes of creating a new support system. It only made me realize that the church I was going to was not the community for me. I found a new church, and the first service I watched was a reminder of who Christ is and the importance of prayer and faith. I again rededicated my life to Christ. I started to get slowly involved in the church and built lasting friendships.

I finished college on top of things. As I prayed for direction, God called me back to Michigan. This meant leaving everything behind once again, but this time, I was not going alone. I finally established a relationship with Christ and knew how to navigate huge changes. With the transition, I don’t have it all figured out, but these last two years have been a process of figuring out how important it is to spend intentional time with God, how important it is to have a solid community, what things I need to trust Him with, and where my life is headed.

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If you have any prayer requests, please let me know! I would love to pray for you and even help you with whatever it is that you have going on. Click on the Contact link at the top of the page to submit a prayer request or message me.

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