One night I was sitting in my dorm room, and I knew I didn’t want to continue the path I was going down, When I first got to college, I was your typical college kid, and I mean who isn’t? I did some reckless things, and that is OK, but one night I knew I had to stop if I ever wanted to be the smart, beautiful, faithful woman I was meant to be. Everything happens for a reason, right? Well, that is what I believe, because if the things in a person’s life do not happen, then how the heck are they ever going to ever learn and be a better version of themselves? We as human beings have to face things that are meant to break us, but in the end, they won’t break us because we are made stronger than that.
I realized all of this back in October of 2015—my freshman year of college. I had been tossed every which way, and I had only been in college for a couple of months. I had hit an all-time low it felt like and I was ready to give up. I was going down a path I did not want to continue on. On October 14, 2015, at around 1:00 p.m., that was when I decided to get my life right with Christ again…I knew if I had God back on my side, I could get through anything. Even though I have always been a Christian my whole life, I hadn’t been living the life of one and I wanted to make a change to make myself better for me, no one else.
The following week, I started attending this thing called BCM, which is our Christian club on my college campus, and on every Tuesday night, we do worship services. The first night I went I knew I had found my place at Dalton State and I knew that I made the right choice. A few weeks later, we had BCM outside on the quad (our hangout spot where our famous campus bell tower is) and the lead guitarist at the time, Wes was talking about his past and how much God loved us NO MATTER what. That night, was one of my favorite nights, because of what Wes was talking about during worship, and also I know no matter how much I mess up, God is always going to love me, like the song “How He Loves," by Kim Walker states “and oh how He loves us so” and she just repeats it during the chorus. To me, that is amazing, because he loves us no matter what we do, no matter how many times we mess up, and so forth.
I ended up posting a bunch of post-it notes all over my dorm room walls with my favorite bible verses and song lyrics. I did this because it was a reminder of what I decided to do and who I wanted to become. I was proud of it and I wanted anyone who came into my room to know that. They also helped me stay positive and kept me pushing through when things got tough.
Something else that is really cool about finding my way back to Christ, an exercise my friend had a group of us do is, she had us have a moment with God and had us ask him “what he loves about me” and I have never heard so much in the short amount of time that I did that in. Sometimes you won’t understand what you get, but I recommend doing it, if you are a believer in Christ, because it is truly amazing.
After deciding to find my way back to Christ, I found my place at Dalton State, and I found my place in my own life. I found happiness. I also got the courage to ask someone on the leadership team at BCM if I could join the worship team because that is where my heart is. I have a talent for singing for Christ and for reaching out to other students/ people through my voice and it was something I wanted and felt the need to do. I can finally say, I am on the right path and I am proud to say it! On October 14th, 2015, if I would have never had made that decision, I would not be where I am today. My spiritual journey continues to grow. I hope I continue to grow as well.
