I was born into a family that was pretty divided regarding religion. My parents put me in a private Christian school at an early age for better education. Despite not being a Christian, I did feel a sense of obligation to go to church, and at the time I did not know where this was coming from. Eventually, I gave in during my sophomore year of high school and my mom and I started going to church occasionally. I would point people to Christ, and give myself a Christian label, but my life was not surrendered to Jesus at this time. In college, nothing had really changed. I knew Jesus was pursuing me because I could not stop wrestling with this decision to go all in, but I had pushed Jesus to the side as I always did before.

My battle was an internal one. I had always struggled with determining the meaning of life, and I had this burning desire to discover what was true. But now I understand that Jesus was calling me to discover the truth and I was rejecting him. I did not want anyone to make my decisions for me, and I did not want to feel like I was a slave. During this time, I was also struggling with dark thoughts. I genuinely believed that the life I lived, no matter what I chose to do, would be meaningless, and I lost a lot of my motivation.

Around this time, I met a campus minister from Rock of Christ Church. I was just about to get involved with people that I shouldn’t, thinking that it would help my negativity but Jesus was calling me and I wanted to ignore it, but I couldn’t. I started doing Bible studies, and I got to ask the questions I had never had the courage to ask, because I was too afraid to admit I did not know the answers. The Bible had the answer to every question I had, and it just took someone to help me look closer. I repented, and gave my life to Jesus on August 23rd. I got baptized after and I was amazed at how powerful it was for me and my mom. It was hard to not get emotional, but when my mom had built up the courage to pray over me, I really lost it. In that moment I can only describe feeling like everything was finally making sense, and I knew that my life was going to change so much, and that the Lord was working behind the scenes in my life all along. The night before I got baptized I was praying that Jesus would reach her and that He would use me to do it. After my baptism, my mom told me that I was helping her come to know Jesus. I am so incredibly thankful for God’s goodness in my life, and my hope is that He would continue to use me to share the truth. I have not once woken up and felt hopeless since then, and I am so excited to uncover the life that Jesus has laid out for me.

-Iris