I grew up on a small farm in Sibley, Iowa located in the Northwest corner of Iowa with my younger sister, mom, and dad. My dad was a trucker for many years but eventually switched to his first love, farming. My mom worked at a meat packing plant until she decided to take the job at the main plant of the meat packing plant where she previously worked. My sister and I grew up as best friends and did everything together until I started college.
I have always believed in God and attended church and Sunday school every Sunday and logos every Wednesday. I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior in eighth grade after reading the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I desperately needed Jesus because I remained an outcast and without friends until my freshman year of high school, and the book made me feel that Jesus would fix my problems.
High school was a roller coaster for my spiritual life. I went in with passion and felt that Jesus and I were as close as could be. But three months into school I found myself being swooned by a guy a year older than me. He was my prince charming, because I had always felt that having a boyfriend would truly complete me.
Freshman year started as a dream. I had friends, I was playing first part in the band, I was getting good grades, and I had a boyfriend. But by the end of my sophomore year, I began to feel empty and unloved by my boyfriend. The more unloved I felt, the more I turned away from Jesus, and I saw that I had begun to lose my friends because I was spending all my time with my boyfriend. We were on-again/off-again for 4 years, and we continuously fought over things that didn't matter, until I moved away to college.
My values and morals that reflected my once Christian lifestyle had deteriorated to fit those of my boyfriend's, and my Holy Spirit had become a faint whisper in my life. I no longer knew right from wrong and my need for Jesus dimmed to a flicker in my heart. What once was a girl who had the desire for good and love for the world, had become a girl who wanted to fit in with the crowd and please her boyfriend. Forget Jesus, he didn't seem as though he was helping me at all.
The summer before my first year of college my boyfriend and I had gone on another one of our "breaks". I started to attend church again after a 3 year absence and found my love for Jesus slowly beginning to renew. After starting my first year of college, I still felt timid to let Jesus in because I knew that Jesus and my boyfriend had two different opinions about life and love. I knew I needed to become involved on campus, so I started attending the group Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) in hopes of restoring my dying faith.
Cru changed my life beyond measures I can't even explain. Everyone was loving and inviting, and they presented Jesus to me in a way that I had never known before. Jesus loved me even though I rejected him, and even through all that I had done, he still loved me. God also had other plans for me besides Cru to get my faith juices pumping. God gave me a friend and a discipler to show me one-on-one Jesus' love for me. Through her, I found Jesus and was reunited with my Holy Spirit again.
I am currently attending South Dakota State University for Apparel Merchandising and a minor in Consumer affairs where I will be serving on the action group team for Cru to train to one day become a leader for Cru meetings. Each day is a challenge in restoring and growing in my faith because my past creeps up on me occasionally and tells me I'm not worthy of love. But thanks to Jesus, Cru, my discipler, and my family my faith is stronger than it has ever been, and I have found a new confidence and friendship with God. Because, as my life motto says, God has washed me of my sins and provided me instead with everlasting love and forgiveness. I can do no wrong in His eyes because through my faith, He has found satisfaction with me.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about me just email me at:
trish_2950@hotmail.com
I also have a tumblr site! Visit me and follow me at:
http://all-for-his-name.tumblr.com/
