testimony

My relationship with Christ begins at a young age as I was raised in a Christian home surrounded by Christian figures my whole life. I was shown Christ daily through my parents, my church, and my community of family and friends. I didn’t have any other spiritual beliefs as I was trying to uncover who Christ was, but I did not become a Christian until I was 7 at AWANAs. As I kept attending weekly, I was gaining understanding of who God was and how He brought His son Jesus Christ on Earth to die for my sins. That impacted me and I asked the leaders about how I can declare my faith to the Lord. They walked me through a prayer of salvation, and I became a believer. I was so excited and continued to read the Word and attend AWANAs. 

As I started to read more about Him, I read about baptism. I had witnessed baptism, and I’ve wanted to do it so many times when I was younger, but I did not understand the purpose or meaning of it. My parents wanted to make sure I understood, so they signed me up for a month-long baptism course. As a 12-year-old, I didn’t understand why this was necessary, but I attended and realized why baptism is so important. I then got baptized and declared to my congregation that I am a believer of God. 

Once my senior year of high school came, I went through a trial in my life surrounding friends, and I was consumed by people pleasing leading to bad decisions for my life. I finally was confronted and disciplined, which allowed me to lean on the Lord because those who were my friends were walking down a bad path I did not want to go through. This made me gain full dependence and confidence on the Lord as He was my friend that kept opening doors to amazing opportunities like Liberty University. The way I was able to come visit Liberty from Alaska was all from the Lord, and I knew His hand of grace was on my life even through my failures and mistakes. He allowed me to come here so eager to learn and know Him more, and He opened even more doors with leadership. It started off as a community group leader my freshman year then moving to resident shepherd ministry this year. He also paved the path with my major. I was all over the place but He was my peace amidst this personal terrifying storm of what career I was going to take on for the rest of my life. I started off with nursing, then biomedical sciences, and I still felt like I wasn't where I was supposed to be. The Lord showed me through a CEO Summit and meetings with the premed club that I am a leader even in my career. I wanted to start something, but I thought I had to be a doctor in order for that to happen. The Lord showed me that I could be a leader who closed the gap between the debt medical students go through and them pursuing medical missions. I am so excited to do this for Him and it seems big, but nothing is too big for the Lord. He has given me so many opportunities to grow in my faith and be his vessel to reach others like missions to Guatemala and being here at Liberty University. Liberty has allowed me to flourish in my growth in Christ with friends who hold me accountable and has allowed me to dive deeper into the Word. It is a blessing to be at a Christian university, and I am dedicated to use all the tools God has given me to help his kingdom grow here and wherever I go in life.