Growing up I never did the whole going to church or praying thing. I knew there was a God but I didn't believe that if I prayed to him or went to church good things would happen to me.

This only lasted until 11th grade. I remember the first time I prayed. I remember sitting on my bedroom floor crying and just asking for some sort of miracle. Asking for a friend to talk to or someone to stop me from thinking about suicide. It seemed silly at first but I got on my knees and started praying.

I didn't actually think something was gonna happen but something did happen.

A friend from my high school called me 5 minutes after asking for someone to talk to. I told her how I was tired of being bullied and how I was done with the stress of homework and trying to be strong. I was ready for it to all be over.

She kept reminding me that everything is going to be alright. That this is just a phase I'm going through and that if I just talk to “the big guy up there” I will get through this. She was right. After our conversation, I got up off the floor and started my new life.

I guess you can say if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here right now and I wouldn't believe in the power of prayer.

During my junior and senior years in high school I truly started to find my religion and my God.

I signed with Missouri Baptist University and started the long journey of finding myself.

I have met so many awesome teachers and students that have helped me with finding my relationship with the Lord.

Many teachers asked me if I prayed and I told them no because I felt silly doing it except if I'm alone and they told me not to.

So I started to pray for everything. No matter what I was going through I started to pray. I didn't care who was watching or where I was I just did it.

I prayed when I was happy or sad and I started praying for things like relationships, grades, and jobs. I started to feel better about things. I started to be more positive on how things were going.

Of course I had times where I would be upset about somethings but I knew that if I left those to the Lord he would help me get through them.

I'm still learning everyday new ways to strengthen my love for Him and it will always be a learning experience. But I know as long as I keep going on this track I will have an amazing and bright future.

I know many of my friends and some of my family don't believe in prayer but if I can help you with one thing, it would be this. If you are struggling with something just take a little time to pray and see where it goes.

I don't know what exactly happened that day but what I do know is that my love for the Lord has gotten stronger and it keeps getting stronger every day.