This is a part 2 of my I finally understand blog.
After he asked me to come I went home and my parents really wanted me to go because they thought it would be really good for me. I just wanted to make some more friend because I felt like I didn’t have many in high school even though I had more than I thought. I went to this weird thing called city group that night. I walked in and was greeted by a few people, Nathan being one of them. I spent the first hour there just standing and being antisocial, then some random short guy walked up to me and started talking to me. I thought he was weird but what I didn’t realize at that moment that he would be one of my closest friends to this day, Jeremiah, thank you. I finally understand.
I started to be more social as the weeks went on. I kept coming back because the Lord was pulling the strings for me and I kept wanting more of the friendships that I was gaining. I started becoming really good friends with all of the leadership of Church of the Highlands, so much that I wanted to be like them. I went to a thing that my church had called the growth track, it was four steps that I could go through to become a member of the church. Me and my family all did it, at the end you can choose what team to join and the team that I chose was students. My dad and brother both signed up for setting up, my mom signed up for nursery, which she still does to this day and its awesome (love you mom), Sydney I can’t remember if she signed up for anything or not. As I joined the students team I had many, many, many people that I could look up to and get help from. There are so many people on the students team that I love dearly and would give anything for. The students team was something that really helped shape me into who I am now. I finally understand.
I became more and more involved into the church, I was just a baby when I joined Highlands and the moment that I became apart of the students I grew up into a teenager. I was in that teenager phase of church for a very long time, and I feel like I’m just barely out of the teenager phase. I got so involved that I wanted to do this thing called 252, it was an internship based on the concept of Luke 2:52, And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with man. This internship really boosted my faith for the few months that I did it I became good friends with people that I didn’t know, the first year of 252 was my favorite year that I did it, I did 252 for 2 years. The people I met became my really good friends. At the end of the internship there is a huge students conference called Motion Conference, 16,000 students all in one place praising God. This was my second time going to it, I loved it. The conference changed my mind on a lot of things that I didn’t believe about christianity, it boosted my faith even more because I understood more. I finally understand.
At Church of the Highlands I went on my very first mission trip, a mission trip to Lima, Peru ????. This was an 8 day mission trip. We went to help out a church called Camino de Vida, Path of Life. We did many things there, i’ll try to list them all but Its been a while. So we did a thing called wheelchair ministry, bringing wheelchairs that we made to people that needed them. We spent one morning making 2,000 sandwiches to bring to a hospital. The hospitals don’t feed the patients normally, we handed out every single sandwich and prayed for every single person we could. We did a thing called a block party, this was one of my favorites. We went up really far into the mountains and painted an entire school, that was also really really cool. We went to a children with disabilities home and spent an entire day fixing up the house and playing with and taking care of the kids. There are a few more but I can’t remember them, this trip was very impactful on me and my walk. I’m still figuring it out but its getting closer. I finally understand.
I did another year of 252 and it honestly wasn’t as impactful as the first year but it still helped me in my walk. From my first time becoming a highlands student to my second year of 252 we have had so many student leaders come and go. I’ve seen at least 4 come and 3 go, this was hard because the relationship I had with them kind of got cut off. The one that I have a good relationship with is with Matt Lebrun, another student leader is Q, he is a good friend of mine. High school really didn’t help my relationship with Christ at all, my friends said they believed in christ but it was hard to see sometimes. I finally graduate high school and I still don’t understand but soon, very soon. I finally understand.
This is a lot, a lot of trials, a lot of ups and downs. A lot of belief and unbelief, understanding and misunderstanding. My life has been a crazy walk but I, finally, understand. The Lord saved me, He set me free of my sin, He loves me, He believes in me, He trusts me. I thank him everyday now because of what he has done for me, how he has set me free, how he loves me so much more than I could ever imagine. His love is infinite and forever, He loved me before I was born, He loved me as I grew up, He loved my parents enough to trust them with me. He loved them so that they can love me, raise me, be with me through my ups and downs, be with me through my anger. They were with me when I fell, hard. They were right there to bring me back up. I finally understand that the Lord loves me enough to put me through all of the things you just read. He teased me with christianity enough to where I made it my own, not my parents, not my siblings, not my friends, but my own. My own faith where I can fall and always get back up because of his Love. I trust him enough with everything in my life, with my life. I will trust him with my marriage, if I get married, even if I don’t I will still trust in him. I trust him with my parents, to do things in their lives even now. I trust him with my brother and sister, to let them grow up to be awesome people. I trust him more than anything, when I fall I trust that he will help me back up. I finally understand, I finally made christianity my own, I finally made God my Lord and savior, I finally trust Him, I FINALLY UNDERSTAND!!!!!
