What was life like before you met Jesus?
Before I met Jesus, everything in my life was about me and up to me. My purpose was entirely superficial and success-based. I wanted to be liked, have a successful career, and build a family - basically build a white picket fence life. And in my eyes, that was all up to me. I've always been a Type A personality, a box checker, and achieving was something I was good at, but it also brought a ton of stress. And the more I would achieve, the more I wanted. It wasn't sustainable or satisfying. There was no real purpose other than to reach the next goal.
How did you meet Jesus?
I wouldn't say that I met Jesus at a specific moment that I can pinpoint. Rather, looking back, it is sweet to know that God pursued my heart through several believers that He put in my path. In college, I nannied for a family of believers, and I became very close with them. While I grew up in what we would call a Christian house, I didn’t have a true relationship with Jesus. When I started nannying for this family, I knew something was different about them. They appeared to have it all, but beyond that, they had this joy, that I now know is Jesus. At the time, I was in college and when I wasn't around this family, I was going about my normal life in sin - everything was about me and what I wanted. They continued to pour into me and serve as an example and to this day we remain close, and I'm thankful for the picture of Jesus they exemplify in the way they live and share with others. After college, my career took off in hospitality and I was working at Elmcrest Country Club. Here I met a few families attending Veritas and again I was caught off guard by what I can only now attribute to the Spirit at work through them. At the time, I was living downtown and I thought maybe I’d give going to church a real go. I started walking to Veritas every Sunday. Slowly, and only by God's grace, I was learning more about Jesus, spending time in the word, and developing a relationship with Him. I joined a connection group and had real community in my life. Looking back, I am just in awe of how sweet and faithful God is in bringing these people into my life. Also around this time, I met my now husband, Dustin. While Dustin would also consider himself someone who grew up in the Christian faith, we both were new to walking closely and obediently with the Lord. Through this time, our community walked alongside us and displayed the gospel. They weren't shy to share the truth with us and did so with love. Looking back, I'm just so grateful for God's faithfulness through this time and the example of Jesus in His obedience to the Father. In Philippians 2:8 we see Jesus humble himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. The fact that Jesus, pure and perfect, would come down to our level, walk with us, and die in an unimaginable way, because of his trust in the Father is life-changing. While I would consider myself a believer for some time, I didn't learn true obedience and what walking with the Lord looks like until the last few years because I didn't have a relationship with the Lord or a true understanding of the gospel. I now understand that being a Christian should change you and challenge you. We aren't meant to look like the world.
After being saved by Jesus, what is your life like now?
Life after Jesus is joyful and freeing. No longer is everything up to me, to my ability to achieve. I know that the Lord knows my heart, pursued me, and I trust in his will for my life. I was dead in my sins... But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ - by Grace you have been saved.