I was born and raised in a Christian home. My mom made sure that we were in church every Sunday and Wednesday. I had always heard about the stories of the Bible, heaven, Christ living in us when we accept him as our Lord and Savior…When I was about 9 or 10 I became a Christian and in 1999 I was baptized. Life at that point really didn’t change for me…
That is until 9/11. I wasn’t affected directly accept for the fact that my brothers kept yelling that it was WWIII and mom was stuck in DC for awhile so I kept thinking something happened to her, even though I knew that was not the case. It was after the attacks my father (who had been a stay-at-home-father) started working for TSA and we saw less of him. That was the norm for a few years until about 2003 when he moved out. At that point it felt like my world was falling apart. My oldest brother started rebelling and I couldn’t understand what was happening to my family.
So I blamed God for what was happening. At first I begged God for things to get better and for my father to move back. When that didn’t happen I became mad at God. I didn’t want to go to church but went mostly to make my mom happy. Though during this time God was faithful to me and put people in my life who understood what I was going though, who had been in the same shoes years before.
One night in particular sticks out in my mind. My father had come back to the house (he would do that from time to time to visit) and he and one of my brothers started yelling. I couldn’t stand it so I went outside and sat in my car. I called my friends that knew what I was going though hoping that they could help me. But they were all busy and had no time to talk. I was desperate for help, peace, relief, something. So in desperation I remember crying out to God telling him that if he was real, if he really cared, here was his chance to do something. God showed up. I had up my head down on the steering wheel and started crying…well more like sobbing. And that’s when it happened. That’s when I heard God say “My Child, My Child”. I looked and I saw what seemed to be an outline of a man, it only lasted a second. I freaked out for a second because no one was supposed to be around. Then it seemed to click that what I had just experienced was God. I immediately was calm and had peace. Now I’m not saying that I stayed calm and peaceful and that everything got better right then and there, but at that time, I was peaceful.
From then I turned completely back to God like I had never done before. I started growing, asking questions, wanting to learn as much as I could. Fast forward to 2008/9 and I’m starting college at Samford U. I have made some amazing friends that have pushed me to be a stronger Christian. A few even introduced me to the Birmingham Prayer Furnace, where I can normally be found if I’m not on campus. Fast forward to 2012 and I’m in my last year at Samford. I have been challenged to learn about God with my heart and to grow deeper. I have been spending the years growing both a heart and head knowledge (mostly head). I have seen how my heart knowledge has grown while I’ve been at Samford but not as fast as my head knowledge. Now I’m craving to go deeper. So I am trying to discipline myself to do that and focus more on that. So that is where I am at know, but it’s always changing as I’m living life. So stay tuned in to hear more of what God is doing in my life!
