As my first year in college has come to a close I have been able to reflect on all of the memories I have made over the year, and there has been one that has really stuck out. This is the day I gave my life to Christ and fully accepted him into my heart and my life.

Coming to college I always believed in God, but I don’t think I ever really knew what that meant exactly. What did it really mean to follow Jesus? This is something I found myself asking a lot, I never really knew what it meant to be a Christian, but I knew coming into college I wanted to get involved with YoungLife. And I did and it was the best decision I ever made.

I joined a small group very early on, I kept going to our larger group Bible study, and I went on the fall weekend trip to Rockbridge where I had the best time of my life. I was in an atmosphere where everyone was so loving and caring and really lived out every day like Jesus would, and it was an incredible experience being shown that kind of love and grace day in and day out.

Then, on the last day of the weekend after having an amazing weekend with some of my now best friends and having so many questions about God and faith and all of it answered through one speaker I knew it was time to fully commit my life to the Lord. That weekend I stood up in front of hundreds of other college students and said out loud that I was giving my life away. Speak it into existence.

Since then, I have continued to grow so much in my faith and watch my friends grow in theirs as we became closer and closer. I have learned how to be vulnerable with others, how to serve people well, and how to love others well. Jesus calls us to love one another well and live in His image, so why should I live my life any differently?

All of this led up to me knowing and believing that the Lord placed it on my heart to lead kids to Him, the same way I was. In March I was placed as a WyldLife leader in a middle school where I get to spend time with kids and pour into them the love of God the same way it was poured into me, just through loving them and spending time with them.

College does not have to be a place where you decide to break all the rules you grew up within a Christian home, but a place where you can grow in that faith and truly understand what you are meant to do with it.