Personal Narrative: A Brave New World

Loving and worshiping God began to be more and more part of my daily thinking, motives, actions, and decisions.

Let me add here how very faithful God was to me. If I had known what the future held, I would not have been able to go forward. In God’s grace and infinite wisdom, He protected me and only allowed me to have enough information to continue to go forward.

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

My faith and how I lived in my faith made serves as a lasting example to believers in Christ (Lindslay, 3). In life, I believed that all work that I did was spiritual work for the betterment of the Lord’s kingdom. Whether I was writing, ministering, eating out, or simply talking with friends, all work, all things, all I did was for the advancement of the Lord’s kingdom. For the work of “a Beethoven” or the work of a “charwoman” were all the same in my eyes; for both the workers, their work should be “offered to God” and done “humbly” “as to the Lord” (Eshlemen, 2). Although I struggled with cynicism, this way of living life challenged and brought new meaning to my life (Lindslay, 3). This idea on the life I lived and how I lived the life I was given serves as an example of Colossians 3:17 for Christians who wish to live and long to live in similar fashions (The Holy, 237). This way of living my faith truly required me to be quite public and open with my thoughts and beliefs. My faith was not always outright and public. When I was young, my family was my first spiritual influence (Eshlemen, 5). My faith started when I was young, but was shattered with the death of my mother when I was ten years of age (Lindslay, 1). This tragedy shook who I thought God is. The death of my mother affected me deeply. In fact, in college, I denounced the protestant

From then on, my changed life continues, and it constantly grows in difficulty. Temptations lurk around every corner, and evil becomes more evident with each passing day. This effects everyone, even Christians. It makes it harder for people to believe that a God so powerful and so loving could let hatred spread to all corners of the globe with such relentlessness. But, God has the whole world in his hands. When in doubt, he constantly reminds me that while life may not always feel the best, it is definitely for the

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

was August, and I was seven months behind on the mortgage. The house had now gone into foreclosure, and on the twenty-eighth, it was going to be auctioned. Despite what that letter said, I still trusted God to perform a miracle. That letter did not faze me a bit. My faith was solid, and nothing or any person was going to shake it. After all, I was following the direction of the Lord.

Over my years of school, one big influence on me has always been sports. Ever since a young age, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sports. In my four years in high school, I have fell in love with the sport of lacrosse.

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

What Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci coined "The New World" was now overrun by man-eating zombies. It all started in Chile and Argentina; news of a highly infectious pathogen had begun spreading at breakneck speeds. By the time epidemiologists had discovered the cause of this pathogen it had already spread to the Western half of the United States and was making its way east.

beliefs to the church of Christ beliefs. The second transition was I was leaving a life of being single to a

God is unpredictable. Sometimes, when you least expect it, He allows change to be for the better. My freshman year I met my best friend. I was fairly content with my friend circle back home, and I am still really good friends with them all, but it didn’t mean I had no room for more friends. My best friend was the first friend that showed me that friendship could be so much deeper. I won’t go into detail, but I will say that that friendship has impacted my more spiritually than any other friendship.

I have been in the Marine Corps for roughly three and a half years and throughout that time I have done many things. Most of the things that I have done were with Combat Logistics Battalion 26. For three years, I worked with that unit through work ups and a deployment and I have seen and done many unique things. However, nothing I did with CLB 26 felt fulfilling, but that all changed when I changed units to CLB 8.

In the summer of 2015, I went to Tennessee on a youth retreat. The purpose of this youth retreat was for my peers and I to make our bond with our God stronger. We were in the mountains, for a week, with plenty of space and time to talk with our God. On the last night of our stay we

Back in October of 2016, I would say my faith in God was scratched and grew in a way that has made me who I am today. I was faced with a tough time in my life where I encountered a situation I was not expecting. My heart was hurt and I was in a place of being statement because my spirt was feeling empty. I was confused at The Lord and constantly wondering why he would put me through this time. I felt at times that my dreams were crushed and my life was falling apart. But that was an emotion not the truth.