Hello all! Just a little bit about me:
Brittany Joy LaTRAY. 24 years young.
Born in New Britain, CT
Raised in a small town in Upstate NY (Newark, NY). It's a little town in between Rochester and Syracuse.
I have 6 siblings (5 brothers and 1 sister) that I ADORE! I am definitely an older child (#2).
I have 2 1/2 wonderful parents (dad is remarried).
In LOVE with Jesus, He is the reason that I live and my mission and purpose in this life is to see His gospel preached to all the nations, that HIS name would be glorified.
LOVE football – college (Go Gators!) and pro.
Favorite colors are pink and yellow.
Love music. I have it on at all times. I love worshipping my Lord and Savior and always imagine when I am singing in large groups that this is just a small glimpse of what worship in heaven will be like. I cannot wait to get there and be able to join in with the saints and angels in heaven in worship. That will be incredible.
I will attempt to play any sport, though I have no problem laughing at myself when I fail miserably at them, as I do. Running is my release, whatever craziness is happening in my life, when I run, things just fix themselves and come together and my mind is cleared.
This is how I like to do things in life- all or nothing.
I don’t watch TV, haven’t even owned one in years, but I do keep up with sports and One Tree Hill. Put me in front of SportsCenter or a football game and I guarantee you I have no idea what you are saying or that you are around because I am in the ZONE. my bad.
I can also lose myself in a good book. John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks, hands down best authors.
I just graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Sciences from Daemen College (small college in Buffalo, NY). What kind of job can I get with that degree? Fantastic question- I’ll let you know when I figure that out 🙂
My future goals involve developing health care initiatives for third world countries and teaching basic healthcare and nutrition in these countries. I was blown away during a previous mission trip of just how necessary health education is in some areas and how much we in America take our knowledge for granted. My heart is to see individuals become self sufficient and become their own health advocates.
I spent 5 months in southern Africa in 2010 helping establish a missionary organization there. Most of my time was spent in Zimbabwe, but a good amount was also spent in South Africa. My experience throughout that trip was a rollercoaster of emotions, etc. It was good, but it was hard.
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But about the deep stuff:
I was raised in a Christian environment, was homeschooled then attended a small Christian school. So basically I knew all the stuff about who God is and how I should be a proper Christian, but I didn’t know what it looked like to live that out.
When I was 11 I had this fear of the unknown and that big word “forever”. I didn’t see the immediate need to live radically for Jesus, except, what would happen if I die tonight and had to spend forever in that bad place? I mean, forever is a big deal, it’s FOREVER. So basically my fear of forever and possibly spending it somewhere I didn’t want scared me into becoming “saved”.
Typical story, I started wandering away from Christ because I thought true happiness would be what I made of life and I could find it on my own. Christians don’t have fun in life, right? They are all boring and stuck up and all about rules; I’ll live life by my own rules. I wish I had that conversation with myself that clearly back then, because maybe I would have been struck by the absurdity of it and would have saved myself time running in the opposite direction. But alas I did not.
I began attending a public high school and unfortunately as most teens do, I got caught up in the partying crowd. I was wanted and sought after at those places and people thought I was fun, so why wouldn’t I, right? Well much drinking and many years later I discovered that being that person, a “partier”, really wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I hated who I was and I didn’t want that lifestyle to be what defined me.
There were places God kept me from and I could always tell He was there, reminding me that I was His daughter, though I was not acting like I believed it. God was always in the back of my mind and I would occasionally talk to Him or read His Word (if I needed something), but unfortunately that’s where He stayed most of the time- in the background. He allowed me to live this way because I had to discover on my own that I really didn’t know everything and He really does have an amazing plan for my life. He allowed me to come to the end of myself so that I would willingly give my life over to Him. He gave us free will so that we get to choose to love Him and follow Him, not because we have to, but because we want to, because there is no other way I could live. I eventually came to this point, but only after fighting it for many years.
The real change came after a few close people in my life died and I was involved in a couple of car accidents. I was constantly being reminded that tomorrow is not promised and you only have right now and today (hence why I have a tattoo on my foot that says Carpe Diem). If I died at that point in my life I really don’t know where I would have gone. So I reached a point where I realized that I needed to surrender everything and give it all to Christ.
“What I do notabsolutely surrender and give up to God comes between God and me.” AW Tozer
I am not perfect and won’t ever claim to be, but the Lord has done miracles in and through my life and is changing me each and every day to look more like Jesus. At times I’ve felt on top of the world, like nothing in the world could break me down, and times of feeling completely defeated and alone. Through it all Christ is molding and shaping me to be the woman that He has destined me to be. He is my center and my focus. I strive to live my life in a way that brings Him honor and glory and distracts people from me because it points directly to Him.
A bible study I was a part of in Zimbabwe (2010).
