My Faith Journey

I decided it would be good for me to reflect on where my faith started and where it is now. I think it's great to reflect and see how God has changed you and to remember where you came from. I also realized I've never really posted about what I believe or what my journey has been. My journey continues to be written and I don't have a lot of things figured out and I hope that you can tell that through this and other posts that I've had. So here's my story hopefully it's not too long:

I grew up going to a Lutheran church. I think we went pretty regularly through my childhood, but to be honest I'm not entirely sure. I know for sure that I went to Sunday School each week and WINGS (Worship In God's Service) every Wednesday. There I learned the basics of the Bible stories and also started memorizing Bible verses. I started to understand who God was, but had more of a grasp that he was someone abstract who wrote the Bible. I didn't really understand that He was someone I could have a relationship with. Towards the end of elementary school (4th and 5th grade) I also started attending Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp in the summer. Camp would be somewhere where I always felt close to God and started to be able to understand who He was.

We moved when I was in 6th grade and I thought it was the worst thing to ever happen to me. Now looking back how see how much God was working in my life. We started going to a church that really showed me what it meant to live life as a Christian. To have a relationship with Christ and also to really trust in God. I had the opportunity to be mentored by a lot of wonderful women and also got really close to the girls in my small group. During middle school and high school I also continued to go to Riverside for summer camp and recharges during the school year. I continued to be challenged to live out my faith and found inspiration in the high school and college counselors who were doing that.

In high school I continued to be active in church and went on quite a few mission trips (Minneapolis, Mississippi [twice to help with hurricane relief efforts], and southern Africa). My understanding of God was very structured. I thought being a Christian was mainly about following a list of rules of do and don'ts. As someone who loves rules this is what I wanted. It was much easier to follow these lists and keep God in a box than to actually trust him. Going to Botswana with Global Expeditions also continued this mindset. They are honestly a great organization and I loved my trip with them. Looking back now I see how structured it was and how much I bought into the idea that being a Christian was only about following a structured lifestyle. I think they need to have this type of structure and mindset when leading 60+ high schoolers to Africa. And like I said earlier I craved this God in neat little box mindset that I had.

When I started at Drake I wasn't super involved in anything religious. I didn't have a car so I would go to church when I could find a ride. I wasn't really involved in any student Christian organizations. I would go to Greek Street Fellowship most weeks and I enjoyed this. I liked having a Bible study with others in the Greek would and meeting some of my sisters. Then towards the end of the year I joined Intervarsity with Courtney and Amanda. Intervarsity was exactly what I needed. This organization really challenged me to live out my faith and not to follow a strict set of rules and set myself apart from non-Christians.

I think since then I've been growing in my understanding of who God and Jesus are. I've seen how important it is to live a life like Christ. To meet people where they are and just love them. I've also seen how much love God has for me. I've seen the ways that God answers prayers through tough situations in my life like my dad losing his job, and my mom's health problems. I've seen how we've gotten closer as a family, how we've relied on God more, and how he's continued to provide to us through this all. I've had the opportunity to go to Ethiopia and see my faith in a whole new way. I experienced so much poverty and people living in despair, but also saw so much joy and hope in ways that I've never seen before.

I feel like my faith currently is learning how to live like Jesus. To take the experiences I've had and try and relate them to others. To hopefully be somewhat of a light in my current community, which is my sorority. It hasn't always been easy and I haven't always done a good job, but I hope that God has used me to plant a few seeds in my house that will continue to grow in the years to come. I'm not sure exactly what my next steps will be on this journey of life, but I can't wait to learn to trust God more and more with the next steps. Because who better than God to direct your story?