You could never call me an overly religious person. Even when I attended a religious elementary school and went to church twice a week, you couldn't call me religious. You could say that I was young, and I did whatever my parents and my teachers wanted me to do.

Then I had the ability to pick where I was going to attend middle and high school, and the choice was between a religious school and a nonreligious one. At this point in my life, I was sick and tired of attending mandatory chapel every Wednesday, so I chose the nonreligious one. I made this choice with the intention of maintaining my faith during my own time, but you can guess how that went. I became one of those Easter and Christmas Christians and then eventually, lost touch with my faith altogether.

College started, and damn the first few weeks were rough. I needed someone or something to believe in because I did not believe in myself anymore. Being in a completely new environment, living with absolute strangers, and still maintaining some sense of self, was overwhelming. My mom kept telling me to pray, but what was that gonna do? God wasn't gonna help me now after I abandoned Him for all those years.

But then, a member of Cru came to one of my sorority meetings and asked for emails of anyone interested in joining. I just put my email down because that was what everyone else was doing and I knew I could tell my mom and she would be proud of me. But after meeting with the lady in charge of Cru, I realized that there was no harm in talking about God with other girls like me for an hour or two a week.

Every week, four sweet girls and I meet with our group leader, Anna Lane. It is one of the best hours of my week. Anna Lane doesn't lecture to us about Scripture or tell us all the things we are doing wrong, we are all just trying to live our best lives and, when we screw up, that's okay.

I returned to my faith because I like having a group of girls that accept me for me, including all my faults and sins. They respect my religion, but also don't pretend to know everything. We are all just trying to deepen our relationship with Christ and survive the whole college thing.

Overall it's pretty great being close to God again.