I grew up in a home that believed in Jesus Christ and the word of God, and we considered ourselves Christians, but we never really went to church. I never leaned the books of the Bible and can't recite verses, because honestly, I don't know them. However, I am learning. I have recently found my faith in the Lord, am trying to learn as much as I can, and am working as hard as I can to develop my relationship with the Lord.

You have to be listening when He is reaching out to you. Looking back now, I think He has been trying to get my attention for about two years now, but I never truly listened to Him. I was too focused on what I needed to be doing to pay my bills, make good grades, and succeed at what I felt was important in my life at that time. I felt that I was doing just fine on my own, so why did I need any help? I have done just fine all my life, what's different now? He was seeking me and I never let Him in.

One week recently, the Lord was on my mind and in my heart a lot. I was on the fence about going to this retreat weekend and all it took was a friend's simple text: "Hey, have you thought about going to fall retreat? I would love for you to come!" At that point, something just opened my eyes, and I realized the He put me on her mind so that she would reach out to me and give me the extra push I needed. I decided I wanted to go and signed up that night!

I was excited, but also so very nervous.

I felt like I was going to look dumb. Like I said before, I didn't go to church much while growing up. The only things I knew about were major events like Noah's Arc and the Last Supper. Pretty basic knowledge of the Bible. Throughout high school, I really wanted to start going to church and learning about the Bible and what it meant to be a Christian, but I was scared. I was scared that I would look stupid in front of all these people who have grown up in the church and can probably recite whole chapters of the Bible. Being scared held me back for so long. You have to realize that yes, they may know the Bible better than you, but that's okay. Let them teach you. I have always known that I want to raise my future children in a church, and I finally realized: when will ever be a better time than to learn than now, so I can teach them later? Nothing is going to change without me changing; people will still know the Bible better than I do, and I would be losing out on gaining my own faith. At that point, I decided to put my faith in Him. I decided that my hands are up, no questions asked, it's time to dive in.

Let the Christians in your life guide you. There are going to be people that know the Bible better than you do, but that is the great thing. They also know how to share the word and teach you how to learn and do as they are already doing. It was (still is) very intimidating to me to see other people and how strong they are in their faith. It is something that I crave at this point in my life, and I cannot wait to have such strong faith myself. You have to rely on those people to teach you everything that they were once taught. It's never too late to learn. For me, it has been the women in my sorority who have gotten my involved.

Get involved on campus. Find some friends and do a weekly Bible study, find a club on campus that fits your faith. Just start to learn.

I am still very new to all of it, but am so eager to learn more. I was at a point in my life when I felt there was nothing more I could do and that I needed guidance from somewhere else, anywhere else. My life seemed to be crumbling around me, and despite my efforts, I couldn't fix it anymore. That one text from a friend has helped me in more way than she can even imagine, so thank you, Kailyn. That fall retreat weekend, every Campus Outreach meeting, and every Wednesday night Bible Study has just helped me to grow so much, and I look forward to what the future holds. Thank you to Kailyn and Kristen for helping me with this journey, I look up to ya'll and am thankful to have you guys to look up to and to look to for guidance.