I did not grow up in a Christian home. My family tried very hard to look presentable on the outside. But on the inside, there was a lot of chaos. It was not a home filled with peace, but instead it was very dysfunctional. I am grateful that God put friends in my life who planted seeds along the way, who told me about Jesus, and who took me to church after Saturday night sleepovers.

When I was 16 years old, I was at a Girl Guides camp, sleeping in a cabin of four. The other three girls decided to stay up late and talk about things that felt dark and sinful. I felt a heaviness on my soul as I listened. I said I was tired and pretended to go to sleep. I got in my sleeping bag, rolled over so they couldn’t see my face, . I was 16, and felt like nobody in the world understood me. Girl Guides used to feel like my refuge from the dysfunction in my home. Now it felt heavy and unsafe. Was anyone coming to save me? I had never felt more alone and without a place in this world.  I didn’t know I was praying. But in my mind, I asked whoever was out there if there was something better than this. And the very next weekend, two friends brought me to a church youth group where I very honestly accepted Jesus. I have never wanted to look back.

Navigating church as an outsider was difficult at first. I didn’t know the Bible. I had only been to Sunday School a handful of times as a guest of a friend. I didn’t have family at church. I didn’t even have a church! But God does not leave us as he finds us. I have been on a long journey of learning who God is and what he says about me.  This transformation did not happen overnight; instead, over the years I have found freedom, healing, belonging, and purpose in his Church.

God is offering us an abundant life, and I do believe most of us are only scratching the surface. I cannot keep silent about the difference a relationship with Jesus has made in my life. I never planned to be a writer, but I cannot stop talking and telling about all that Jesus has done for me.