Okay, so the first thing I would like you to know about my, besides my name of course, is that I despise writing bios about myself online. I always end up feeling like I am filling out some dating profile with my likes, dislikes, what I want to do in life and so on. But I guess I shall try….Here goes nothing!
Me in Africa 🙂
Basic Questions that Everyone Wants to Know
Name: Brittany Louise Morrison
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
School: Mercer University, Macon GA
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Birthday: June 10, 1991
Age: 20
Family: Thomas Morrison (brother) 22, Candace Statzer (sister) 29, Isaac Statzer (brother in-law) 27
Parents: Wendy Owen (mom), Tim Owen (step-dad), Tom Morrison (dad)
Okay so now that I have all of the basics out of the way…Here is my story and how I came to apply for the world race….
Before this past year, i had the typical Christian story. I grew up in a Christian family, going to church every Sunday and youth group every Wednesday. Even throughout high school, I was always labeled "the good kid." I respected my parents. I didn't cuss, didn't party, graduate with an International Baccalaureate diploma and got a full tuition scholarship to Mercer University. Basically, up until last year my life was pretty easy. Sure, I had my struggles but nothing compared to what some people go through. Throughout that time, I called myself a Christian but honestly I really don't think I ever was. Which, I guess it all depends on what you define a Christian as. If you define it as someone who says a prayer and claims that Jesus is their Savior then sure….I guess you could say I was a Christian. But I don't really think I actually knew who God was or what it meant to be a Christ follower. Okay so now onto the interesting part of my story. This is what made me who I am today and why I have chosen to go on the WR.
Beginning my freshman year of college, I got into my first real relationship. Now this wasn't one of those "We just met at move-in day a month ago and I think your cute so lets be bf and gf" types of things. This guy was actually my best friends cousin and we had met two years before I moved to GA. By the time I got to college, we were best friends. So by sophmore year, I had been in a relationship for about a year with this great Christian guy….well started off great….then satan decided to take over and everything started to turn well….not so great. We got way to physical, started to grow jealous of each other, started lying to each other and just stopped listening to God’s voice all together. About a month into that fall semester, we started the process of breaking up. I phrase it like that because that is what happened. Our breakup lasted about 6 months and it was probably the hardest/worst/most depressing 6 months of my life. By the end of it all, I was broken-hearted, depressed, alone, feeling unworthy of anyone’s love, angry and confused about how someone I loved so much could cause so much hurt to me. How could someone who claimed for an entire year to love me more than anyone and promise that he would love me for eternity, make the choice to do things that would blatantly destroy me? I didn’t know how you could claim to love someone one minute and then in the blink of an eye begin to tell that same person that they were undesirable and you never wanted to speak to them ever again. I guess that is how the devil works though. He uses those closest to you to bring you down. For a while, he was winning. He did a great job using this man to completely tear me apart and make me feel as if I was the most worthless human being on earth. Let me just say though. I don’t blame the man. Sure, he was the one saying terrible things to me and he was the one causing the pain through his actions but in the end it is Satan who is to blame. I forgive this man for what he did to me but I will not forgive Satan. Satan knew what he was doing. The guy didn’t. Through this experience, I began to realize that I had NO idea who God was and who I was in Christ. I thought I did but come to find out I didn’t. It only took one person to make me lose my identity. If I really believed that I was loved by God, I would have cared less what that person thought of me and I would never have spent months chasing after someone who was willing to throw me around like I was nothing. I would never have been destroyed. So basically before this summer, I was really in need of some Jesus and love. Luckily, God gave me the amazing opportunity to go to Africa this summer with AIM through their Real Life (now Passport) program. That summer RADICALLY changed my life and this is how……
Well, one morning during team, the leader, Angie, began to talk about how when she was on the World Race, she one day made a decision to choose into freedom. She literally drew a line in the sand, took off her old self and said aloud “I am new! I am free!” I really believe the Holy Spirit was speaking through her that morning. In that moment, the wind began to blow (which does signify something to me and call me or come find me if you wanna hear the story, it’s a pretty cool one). Anyways, so the wind began blowing and I heard God say to me, “Step forward. Step out of your past. Be bold. Choose into me and choose intro freedom. Do now wait anymore.” So I did. I literally stepped forward and said out loud, “I am done with my past! I am done with who I used to be and I am set free! I believe I am beautiful! I believe I am worth being fought for! I believe I am a child of God and I deserve to be treated like one! My significance is no longer found in man but in God alone! I will not go back! I am no longer ashamed of my past and it no longer will dictate my future! “ I was seriously standing there in the middle of the circle, crying and screaming out these declarations. That moment God changed my life. I am forever changed and I will never go back. After I made that choice to step into the future that God had for me, Angie asked me to pray in that moment and ask the Holy Spirit to give me a vision that I could always remember when I began to falter. I immediately received an image of me, looking back and I saw my old self standing there. The old me was depressed and dark. With me holding my hand was my ex and behind us was darkness and emptiness and all the lies that I ever believed. Suddenly a giant metal fence appeared with no door, no end, and no way to get over. Then I turned around and looked down at myself. I was clothed in white linen and glowing with light. I was smiling and the wind began to blow through my hair (once again very significant) and in front of me was a field full of grass and beautiful flowers and birds. There was just so much life. It was as if God was saying, “I will never let you go back. From now on you are going to be filled with joy and life. You are free my child!” I will never forget that moment and I remind myself of that image every morning I wake up. I AM SET FREE!
I can now say that I LOVE JESUS…..ALOT!!! I could probably write a book about the things that God has done in my life this past year and how awesome He has been to me. I have never been happier and more free and I credit all of that to God. That is why I want to go on the World Race. I have been called and I am answering "HECK YES!" God has given me so much joy and I am determined to use my life to spread that joy and freedom around the world, even if that means giving up my westernized lifestyle. So who am I? I am a follower of Christ, a child of the Almighty God, and a force that is determined to bring God's kingdom to earth. 🙂
This is my tatoo. It is Masaai for "freedom." I got it to remind me everyday the freedom I have in Christ. 🙂
Things You Should Know
Rarely will you find two pictures of me where my hair is the same. Sarcasm is my second language. I love anything that is mildly life threatening such as bungee jumping, skydiving, rollercoasters, cliff jumping…basically anything adventurous. I don't like being in one place for too long. I can be somewhat of a goofball. However, I am pretty chill. I got my first tatoo after I got back from Africa and am determined to get another one on the race. I love to sing. I love free spirted worship. I love food and will basically try anything. (This summer I ate raw goat kidney in Africa…..fyi I dont reccommend it) Basically I just love life and Jesus =)
Most current Picture!
