I have faced many hardships in my eighteen years of life. I have felt alone and as if there was no one to turn to. However, through all that I have gone through, I have always been able to rely on my faith. I have always had a strong connection with my religion, being raised Roman Catholic. My greatest role model, my memere, has taught me all that I know about my faith. Whenever I have troubles and feel completely hopeless, I turn to God in prayer. I truly believe “If God is all you have, you have all you need” (John14:8). I live by the idea that no matter what one faces in life, they will always have their faith. Belief, religion, and prayer can never truly be taken away from someone.

One of my strongest beliefs is that God does not throw anything at us that he knows we cannot handle. Between the ages of eight and 12, my pepere passed away, my parents got divorced, and we moved three times. This was a very difficult time period for me. I found myself constantly turning to the bible. Just reading the inspiring passages assured me that eventually life would get better for me and that I would overcome the sadness that I was feeling from all I had experienced. When feeling down, I referred back to the passage, “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help at break of day” (Psalm 46:5). When I was about sixteen, I faced another great tragedy. My mother’s boyfriend had gotten into a horrible motorcycle accident and had severe brain damage. He was in the hospital and rehab for eight months total. This took a great toll on me mentally and emotionally. I had never truly accepted him and I felt awful that it took an accident like this for me to realize how much he meant to me. He was finally recovering when just a few months ago he suffered from a stroke. Because of the damage done to the left side of his brain, his speech and mobility on the right side of his body are greatly affected. He will never be the same person again mentally. Throughout this entire time period, I once again turned to God and my bible. I found myself going back to one passage over and over and repeating it in my head when feeling as if life could not be any worse, “She is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future” (Proverbs 31:25). I now find myself living by this passage and even made it my senior quote in high school.

Throughout all the hardships I have faced in my lifetime, I have always been able to persevere and get through them. Without my faith, this would not have been possible. Even in what I believe was the darkest days for me, I have never felt completely alone because I have my faith. “If God is all you have, you have all you need” (John 14:8). No matter what the future holds, I will be fearless and ready to face it because even when I have nothing, I will have God to turn to.