AGE: 19 Hometown: Fort Worth, TX City Living: Phoenix, AZ Favorite scripture: Psalm 73:26 Best thing about fashion: It's always evolving! Best thing about music: It moves your soul.
As a child and throughout
my entire life, my parents raised me in church. We were there devotedly Sunday and Wednesdays as well as any day where they had retreats or events. I feel like I'm very fortunate to have had this child hood because it gave me a foundation. It taught me at a very young age who Jesus is and why it’s important to have Him in your life. Little did I know that when I entered into high school it was ultimately going to be my decision whether or not I was going to continue that lifestyle. As a freshman in high school I made a lot of new friends and did pretty well in my classes. Even though my first year of high school wasn’t necessarily bad, my dad wanted me to do online schooling because he didn’t like the school district I was in. So, I finished my freshman year and then switched to online schooling. This is when it all went downhill. I was completely separated from all my friends from school. I had no interaction with anyone on a day to day basis and I just became this lifeless person
who just wanted to stay at home. I battled with two years of deep depression and completely lost my love for life. During those two years I did hang out with the wrong influences behind my parents back and experimented with drugs as well as drinking. I never got high or drunk, but I was going to the extreme and trying to find my way out in any way that I could. Most nights I cried myself to sleep and a couple times just asked God to take me. I was so selfconscious and just didn’t like who I was; inside or outside. Thankfully, those two years wouldn’t last much longer. The church my parents were going to at the time had this three day event where a different pastor would come in each night and preach. I decided to attend the last night not knowing from that night on I would be a different person. At the end of the service, the preacher did an alter call for rededication and I courageously stepped forward. He simply just prayed over me and I was
overwhelmed with tears. There were many things in his message that just really spoke to me and I knew that I had to make a change. I always knew that God was the answer, but I never made the effort to have a relationship with Him. And that’s all it is. I never want anyone to think that Christianity is about rules and regulations; it’s simply just having a relationship with the creator of the universe. He never asks for perfection from us, He just asks that we love Him and love His people. If I had been in my word and been focused on the Lord in those years of being in school, my life would have been dramatically different. But in a way I’m thankful that I did go through that, because it led me to a love and appreciation for Christ that I wouldn’t have known.
Romans 8:3839 "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus"