About Me

Huzzah! We’ve reached 100 followers! As promised, here is a quick bio de moi.

I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa with Christian parents and going to church all the time. I’m the oldest of 4 at 20 years old but will turn 21 May 8th. I did the whole spiel, going to school and what not, blah blah blah, nothing exciting there.

Around junior/senior year of high school is when I “started getting serious about my faith,” as the old cliché goes. This manifested itself mainly in a pursuit of head-knowledge about God. I began teaching myself all the fancy theology  and arguments and what not. Got pretty good at it, I must say. Around this same time was when I realized that I just really love languages. I’d always wanted to be a doctor and had planned on med school for a long time but one day I woke up and knew what I was going to pursue. This time in high school was perfect. I had so many friends, was well-liked (at least I think I was), was successful in drama, had high grades (Valedictorian!) and was super pumped for college.

I applied to Moody Bible Institute senior year and was rejected so I went to the University of Northern Iowa my freshman year while living at home. This part of my life was not so fun. Living at home meant I didn’t get to make any friends since I was only on campus for classes. Almost all the friends I had had either moved away or were still in high school. The ones that did go to UNI I rarely saw. It was lonely and hard and just not fun at all, nothing like I expected college to be. I became very depressed. On top of that, right after graduation I went “a little” girl crazy after not dealing with romance in high school at all. I won’t go into detail here but I was quite emotionally involved with nine girls over the next two years. (If you really want to know about the “Nefarious Nine” feel free to ask).

I reached a point where I just broke down and couldn’t take it anymore. A man named Adam who used to be a pastor was there for me and started mentoring me. For the rest of that school year, through continued depression and girl-drama, Adam helped guide me and keep me from drowning by turning me to God, teaching me and just listening to my immature moping. I’m forever thankful for this man. I might not be alive without him.

During my freshman year I reapplied to Moody and was accepted. However, Adam convinced me to go to Iowa as it would be better as a mission field and to put myself in a Christian bubble. There I lived in an apartment turned dorm which was pretty great. Met lots of people and made some great friends. Started going to a campus ministry, 24:7, and met more people. Still, though I was depressed. My struggle, it seemed, was not about my relationship with others but with God.

I came to my lowest point the night of Sunday, October 10, 2010. For the first and only time in my life, the idea of cutting seemed like such a release from the emotional pain I was in. I needed some other pain to distract me. I had razors under my sink and I just sat up staring at it contemplating. Thank God, though, I didn’t act on it, the only reason being if my parents ever found out they’d be crushed. Two days later God provided someone to talk to, a man named Trent. He helped me and showed me how much God truly loved me, how much He desires and knows me more than any human ever could. Isaiah 49:15-16 are the verses that saved me:

¹⁵ “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
      Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
   But even if that were possible,
      I would not forget you!
 ¹⁶ See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands…”

I was still spiritually stagnant the rest of that year. The next year (this year) I am rooming with a brother. It’s been very encouraging having constant fellowship. I’m doing some student leadership with 24:7, ministering to internationals and striving to grow.

I’ll be living in Iowa City next year working and paying off loans. Next January I’ll apply to Wycliffe Bible Translators and the January afterwards should be ready to be sent off to help translate a Bible into a language that doesn’t have one yet!

Sorry for the length, thanks for reading! Feel free to ask anything at all if ye have questions.

Last Update: 1-12-12

4 months ago  /  1 note