In this post, I am going to be honest with you all about my journey, a bit of my testimony if you will.

I knew I believed in God my entire life. Now living a Godly life is another thing. I went to church every Sunday but throughout the week my words and my actions did not portray that I was a Christian. I was more focused on the sports I was involved in and what people thought about me rather than living for God. I was such a back and forth person when I was younger when it came to faith and when I decided it was "cool" or "okay" to talk about my faith.

When I got into high school I was still worried about all those things but when I got into my junior and senior year was when things started to change. Things in my life we are going downhill and I could see myself about to go down the wrong path. When it was my senior year I went to Kalahari with my church and it was there I decided to rededicate my life to Christ. Now I was super worried because it was my senior year and I was about to go into my freshman year of college and didn't know what was going to happen because I was going to be exposed to new things, new people, new experiences. I had the amazing chance to be a part of the BGSU Cheer team and that was my life freshman year. Don't get me wrong, amazing team, people, coaches, and experiences, but that is what I was solely focused on besides school. I was not making my life group and church a priority like I knew I should have been.

Now, this past year of school (my sophomore year) I went into school with the major of psychology, still cheering and this time I was going to church. Now in the fall semester, I was honestly just focused on getting a boyfriend LOL (mistake) and getting better at whatever I could. I did not have a car on campus so I could not go home. When you are doing a sport in school it is basically like having a job and you need to juggle that and classes and whatever else you are doing and I did not do it well that semester. In October, I had so much going on I was overwhelmed and my grades started to slip, I stopped going to class, I was going out to the bars just about every day of the week (which is not like me) and I was isolating myself from my roommates and locking myself in my room. I was in such a low point of my life I truly thought God had left me in this point in my life. I always look back and say that it's almost like a light turned off in my body.

Now let's fast forward to December, and that light that shut off turned back on but it was too late, finals were coming around and I was not prepared and I knew that but I still tried my best with what I could. Not only did me isolating myself affect my grades it took a toll on me cheering. With my poor grades, I was not able to go to Disney and compete with my team on our Game Day team. I felt that I had let everyone down. My mother being the wonderful woman that she is said this is a blessing in disguise because I would get to be home all winter break and get a chance to refresh and restart myself.

Now, my church back home as I mentioned earlier goes to Kalahari every year in January and one of the leaders (Sean) texted me and asked if I wanted to be a leader for middle school girls. Now if you have made it this far you are probably thinking the same thing I was "Like I just went through so much stuff this past semester and I am not living the life I should be and he wants me to lead middle school girls towards Jesus over these 3 days". Once again, my amazing mother said this is an opportunity for you and fast forward I did end up being one of the leaders and that was my turning point. I loved nothing more than being a leader and creating relationships with these girls because I remember how important these few days are and how life-changing they can be and how much a leader can make that impact on your life, because when I was there my leader) April Manley) made an impact on me that will last forever.

I came back to school with a new major (sociology) just because I was more passionate this way and ready to adjust my life. Now it was not an easy adjustment and after last semester it was hard to pick my grades back up after the fall. My friend back home (Becca) texted me and told me to apply at our church for a summer internship. Again, I was thinking "Do these people really think I should be an intern?" They saw something that I did not see in myself. Fast forward again, I got the internship and it was the best 12 weeks of summer I could have asked for. I have never been so pushed out of my comfort zone, and stretched mentally in my faith and just in general. It was so funny because I have thought about getting baptized for a long time I just never took that extra step. It was in the first week my boss (Rachel), we were walking around the church just talking about life and she just asked me "hey have you been baptized?" and I said No and she said, "Do you want to" and immediately I said yes! This church is such a family and supports one another. No matter your background, what you look like they have nothing but love and open arms for anybody who walks through those doors.

On August 18, 2019, I was baptized and that will be a day that holds a place in my heart forever. I cannot thank everyone that has been on my life journey enough. Without this internship, this summer I don't know where I would be in life or if I would have been baptized. I have an amazing unit of friends that continually pray for one another and support one another always.

Psalm 73:26

"My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever"