Howdy!
One of the greatest privileges that God has given to me is to tell people about how amazing he is and to show how he has worked and is working in my life. Thank you for allowing me to do this.
My name is Heather Reed. I am from Texas (kind of all over) and just graduated from Texas A&M University in May (WHOOP!) I have a degree in communication major with a minor in religious studies. I have two older brothers, Patrick and Shane, a younger sister, Sunny (11) and a younger brother Javier (3). Patrick has two boys of his own, Trevor and James. I also have three cousins, Tre (14), Danyale (11) and Destini (9). I really enjoy getting to spend time with all of them when I can.
I guess a theme that you should keep in mind as you read is Jeremiah 29:11- “Surely I know the plans I have for you… plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”
I was born in Houston and moved to Angleton when I was small. Cool fact, we lived in the same house my mother was raised in and I was baptized in the same church she was. I joke that I was probably told that Jesus loved me and then maybe there was some counting of fingers and toes. I can’t remember a time of not knowing about God’s love for me. My parents were amazing about teaching us that very early on. I am really glad they did, because that gave me everything I needed to make it through the early years of my life. My mom died when I was 11 and my dad died when I was 16. Before he died we moved around a lot. I knew during this time that God loved me and would take care of me, and he did. We went through some really hard times when we didn’t eat for days and didn’t always have a place to stay. Through all of that though, I know that God was with me and he carried me through those times. During that time he put people in my life that could nurture me and take care of me. Ultimately He gave me the Methodist Children’s Home, in Waco to become my home, my sanctuary, a place where I knew I was protected. That was an awesome gift. I loved my time there. I grew in my relationships with the 15 other girls in my house and learned a lot about myself. I stayed here until I graduated and came to Texas A&M.
My freshman year was really hard for me because I was challenged to question everything that I believed and to push myself beyond what I had known before. I challenged everything I heard, questioned every person who tried to tell me anything. This was incredibly difficult for me, but I am glad that I went through that then, because that time opened me up to a deeper relationship with my God. I came to college with plans of becoming a doctor. I know, I know, you are probably laughing to yourself, how many times do our plans and God’s line up? That was my plan though and I was going to do God’s work through medicine. Yeah, then I took chemistry and that got blown out of the water. I changed my major to communication with a minor in religious studies and have loved every minute of it.
Isn’t God amazing? I love having the opportunity to tell people about what God has done in my life, because it is such a real example of how incredibly powerful he is and how much hope we have in him. God knew what he was doing. He used my situations to create in me a passion for ministering to those people around me who are in seemingly hopeless situations.
I have an amazing surrogate family that lives in Muleshoe, Texas right now, he works at a dairy and she is the youth minister at the Methodist church.
I have an amazing church home here in College Station: Christ United Methodist Church. Here I am involved with the youth ministry, small group Bible study, prayer team, and college ministry. I found out about the World Race right before Christmas and now here I am on this crazy journey that is revolutionizing the way that I see myself and the people around me as well as teaching me about the minsitry that God has designed me for.
These are few of my favorite things…
cheesy high school/college football movies (I will boo hoo every time), cheesy hallmark movies, smoothies, balancing on a exercise ball (in the standing position), sleeping in grass, laughing, building things, chocolate, buying office supplies, hanging out with kids, strawberry limeades from Sonic, being outside, color changing cups, a lot of John Wayne movies, and The David Crowder Band.
