About

I come from a long lineage of Christians.

From the moment I was born, I was surrounded by God-fearing individuals who were determined to lead me to Christ. Church on Sunday was normal. VBS was the highlight of my summers. Eventually, Youth Group was where I finally came to understand that salvation was a part of this crazy thing I had with God. The youth program at my childhood church taught me what it meant to be saved and what I had to do to receive eternity. The night following that message, my brother came to me and and asked me if I wanted to pray the prayer of salvation with him. I agreed eagerly. The two of us went to our parents and told them, then the four of us sat on their bed and prayed. I was baptized in the Finley River shortly after. I was 8 years old.

Fast forward to 2016. The church I got saved in went bankrupt and fell apart, and my parents never could find a church they liked as well. So, at that point, I had been not going to church for something like 5 years, give or take. My salvation meant that I was going to Heaven, but I didn't really apply what I learned to my life at all. I lived however I wanted to, always with an undercurrent of awareness that "I'm a Christian, there are things I shouldn't do." I didn't really feel a relationship with God, though, and I didn't think in terms of "I'm a Christian, there I things I should be doing." My prayers were selfish and distant. My interest in the Bible was surface level at best. I was more focused on friends and boyfriends than I was in my spiritual life. In 2016, my grandmother, the spiritual pillar of my family, passed away. In her wake, she left my family paralyzed by grief and trying to understand where God fit into all this. It was then, when I was hurting more than I ever had before, that I realized I needed to throw myself into my faith with everything I had. I was going to become the next spiritual pillar. I was going to understand God. I was going to read my Bible and develop my faith and be every bit of the prayer warrior Granny was.

Through this process, I've not just learned about the Bible and about God's character, I've learned what it means to actually LIVE for Christ. I am learning how to die to myself. I'm learning how to give up old habits and ways of thinking, and replace them with the things God has for me. There is a lot of un-learning, a lot of re-learning, and a lot of discovery.

Salvation is easy. You ask with sincerity for the Holy Spirit to enter your heart, and in that moment, you're bound for Heaven. I've come to understand that being a Christian, being saved, being God's child, means so much more than simply being one of the Heaven-Bound, though. I have a calling, a responsibility, and an identity that can only be found in Christ Jesus. I was saved when I was 8 years old, but I didn't really live until I had experienced real loss.