August 15, 2015 marks the day I started to believe. God softened my heart so I could embark on a life to live with His Son. I like to call it my new birth, so therefore I am only four years old in my faith, a baby.
Before I get caught up in explaining everything, let me start from the beginning.
I grew up in a Christian home- haha most testimonies start out like this but no, really…
I went to a catholic school all my life. I would just go through the motions and participate, but it didn’t mean anything to me. My parents would take my sister and I to church two or three times a month. My family was very close. Then whenever I was 13, my dad started working late and long hours, he went to the doctor and they they told him that his heart was beating irregularly, it turns out he had been having an affair on my mother, I believe the stress was literally killing him. I was very confused…lost…angry… in high school I started drinking and partying and turned to girls and smoking weed to cover the pain and dealing with the divorce. I did that for years and into college, doing whatever the world said was “cool” and would make me happy, but it didn’t, it never did. In 2015, my second year in college I wanted something more in life and was tired of living for nothing and having fake friends. My sister, uncle Bull ,and cousin Matt and my mom had starting believing a couple years earlier and would tell me about Jesus and pour into my life, without me even knowing about it.
One night in I was down and was tired of fake friendships and surface level relationships, I wanted someone real and true. I cried out to the Lord and he revealed that he was real and true. I called all my family and told them what I had found. I bought a Bible and called my Dad in the middle of the night and told him what I had found and that I forgave him and let go of the resentment, we now have an amazing relationship. I started going to church, but everything didn’t change immediately. I didn’t know what a Christian looked like or how to live out this new faith and change in my heart. I met a girl named Alexis, and she really showed me what it was like to have a relationship with Jesus and a tangible example of walking with the Lord in Oxford, Mississippi. I went to a Younglife camp, a college ministry outfit, join a small group, and would later become a leader and disciple college-aged men. I went to on a mission trip to Honduras in March of 2018 and fell asleep by a waterfall and woke up with the most peaceful feeling I had ever felt, and felt that the Lord was telling me this is what He wanted me to do-missions. (Colossians 3:15) Shortly after praying for a month, I signed up for the world race. I graduated from college and now I’m here.
It’s a story of redemption and forgiveness and everything and person makes me into who I am now. Most people can’t tell you the exact date or time they got saved, some people can pinpoint it, for some more elaboration and to shed some more light on God at work in the background of my life. I would like to introduce someone that got this whole Jesus thing wayyyy before a lot of us, a role model, and maybe a slight inspiration why I’m on the race, my sister, Ashleigh
As I reflect on “my side” of William’s story, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness and the power of prayer. I am humbled that God allowed me to play a role in his redemption story.
I went on the World Race right after graduating college in 2015. God’s call for me to go on the Race was clear from the very beginning, but I had no idea of the eternal impact that my “yes” would have. William’s story is just a part of it.
During my 2nd month on the race, my entire squad and I were in Kathmandu, Nepal. During team time one afternoon, my team and I all felt that God placed the desire in our hearts to pray for our brothers. Although I always prayed for my family and for my little brother, this month was particularly heavy as I knew that William was going through a trying time. Basically, my prayer to God was “Lord, I know that you can do anything, but please, just let William make good decisions and stay healthy and safe.” I NEVER in a million years would have thought that God would meet William in his room in Oxford, MS, and then set him on a path towards mission work. That idea was very far-fetched from my mind, and plus I did not want to set myself up for not having my prayers answered. I was scared of that bold prayer. So, my team and I decided in February that on Tuesdays, we would all pray for our brothers.
This continued for the rest of the year, when in August, month 8 of the World Race, I received a snap chat from my brother.
In the snapchat was an image of a Bible. Long story short, he told me that he had opened his Bible by himself for the first time in his life, and the Lord very clearly spoke to him and he had given his life to Christ.
……. um, WHAT!!!?!!?!?!?!?! PRAISE THE LORD!
I, of course, am in Laos, on the other side of the world, and just want to run to my brother and hug him. We finally get to talk on the phone, and he tells me about what just happened and asked how to proceed. He got plugged into a church and found a group of God-loving Christians to do life with in Oxford.
Although this was just the very beginning of William’s walk, and I am and have been so honored and proud of his obedience and eagerness in following Christ. I rejoiced on that day in August, and I know that all of the angels in heaven were rejoicing with me. The Father’s son has come home and secured his seat in heaven.
I pray that as you are reading this, you can have hope that God hears the prayers that you cry out in the middle of the night, whether that be for a lost child, for your struggling friend, for your marriage, or even for healing. God is still in the business of answering prayers.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
Her faith honestly started a wave throughout our family, and I just thank God for her heart, her faith and what He has done in her life.
Thank you for reading a little bit about my life and testimony of how God radically saved me out of darkness and brought me to His glorious light.
