Hi there! My name is Brooke and I’m 19 years old and a Sophomore at the University of Utah. I’m double majoring in psychology and photography. I love hiking, camping, skiing, and most of all Jesus!
There are six of us in my family: my parents, two sisters, and one brother. I grew up in Utah and have lived here my whole life. Utah is a really rad place to live in because of its awesome recreation. If you love hiking, skiing, camping, and basically anything outdoors then you would love living here too. I grew up in a Christ-centered home, yet my parents never forced it upon me. They always told me to question them, my pastor, and even God, and this impacted my faith tremendously. They really wanted me to own my own faith and to find my personal relationship with God for myself. My parents have been a huge influence on my faith. Seeing how much they love Jesus and live everyday for him has been such a blessing for me.
My senior year of high school was the first time I experienced God and knew this whole idea of God wasn’t just bogus. He was working through people on that trip and was very present. It was incredible to see him break a cultural divide. To see two completely different cultures, no common language, worshiping the same God, was pretty surreal. I knew there had to be a God if we were all worshiping the same one with never being in contact until this trip. This was the beginning of my faith growing. I wanted to have a relationship with Jesus and believe in his mercy for us, but something was missing and I think it was the part of me actively pursuing him. I kept telling myself I knew what God was all about, but it wasn’t until college when I really knew what it meant to have a relationship with him.
My view on God was just so off of what he really is all about. Part of me wanted to believe in his mercy and what it means to have grace for us, but I think for a while the bigger part of me fed into lies. In a sense I had this idea that we needed to do certain things to be on God’s “good side” and earn my salvation through that. It really wasn’t even until a few months ago when I found out what our God is all about. His grace for us is such an incredible gift he’s given us. Because of Jesus dying for our sins, I no longer have to feel bound to it anymore. For the longest time I was trying to earn acceptance and love through people and there came a point in my life where I just wasn’t happy because people were failing me time after time and it’s not their fault. People are people and we are not perfect. I was failing to realize God has been there the whole time. Once I began believing his love is the only thing I really need, there really is no going back to living a life without him as the center. Now I know what it really means to have a relationship with Jesus. I don’t think there is any greater love than dying for those you love and he did that for us. I didn’t even know who he was, yet he knew he was dying for me so I could have this life not bound to sin and therefore ultimately given the chance to live with him for eternity. I no longer have to feel ashamed but I am now made new. A kind of love like that is just indescribable and absolutely incredible.
I want to serve God anyway I can because he has radically changed my life, and if that means putting my life on hold for a year well then sign me up. I’m not going to lie here..I’m a little scared for this journey. It’s really nerve racking having to put all my plans I had for myself on hold, but if I don’t go I’ll never see what God had in store for me.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved.”-Ephesians 2:4-5
