I grew up in a Lutheran Church. At the young age of two months I was baptized and at 14 I was confirmed into the membership of the church. To me, following Christ meant being able to distinguish between right and wrong. I had little awareness of Christ’s love. I often thought of Him in terms of Him dying for my sins, but not of His love for me. My faith was very heavy in legalism. This often caused me to judge my friends and family in their daily life, resulting in heated debates about controversial issues. I thought it was my job to tell them how they were living their life incorrectly. These circumstances were frequent while I was in middle school and also during the years I attended Lincoln High.
It was when I got to college that God really started peeling back the layers. I got involved in a Christian student ministry which taught me about grace. God revealed to me the depths of my wrongs in judging others and how He is the only one qualified to judge. I realized I had only been displaying God’s judgement and not His love. During this gradual realization, I also realized how broken I am and that I as well deserve to be judged by God. This is truly when Christ captured my heart and showed me the Gospel is a message of truth and grace. We fall short of perfection indefinitely and cannot meet God’s expectations. Yet, He offered Christ as a sacrifice to cover our imperfections so that we could know Him.
These truths compelled me to live life differently. Now, when I dialogue about life with people, I listen to their heart and realize despite any mistakes they have made, I have made them too. I want them to know that our real purpose and fulfillment comes from Christ. We are going to continue to make mistakes, but He can help us change. While I accepted Christ at a young age, it was really in college that I decided I wanted Jesus to have complete leadership of my life.
I graduated college in May 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Sociology and minoring in Business. During my college years, God gave me a lot of immensely valuable gifts. While involved with campus ministry, I experienced community filled with love and challenges to grow in my character. Additionally, as a junior, I was able to study abroad in Northern Italy for three months while studying business. I carry these experiences with me to this day.
Following college, I felt God calling me to go on my first missions trip. In the summer of 2010, I spent five weeks serving in the inner city of New York City. During my time of serving, I observed God’s deep love for people and His desire for people’s needs to be met. This meant holistic needs: physical, spiritual, emotional and so on. I ended my time there feeling a yearning in my heart to continue investing time in NYC, but I had to return home.
Upon my return, I felt lost and uncertain of what God had next for me. I continued to pray for His direction as I job searched and sought community outside of college. In the winter of 2010, I felt God calling me to intern with the inner city ministry of Cru in NYC. Through an arduous journey of praying, seeking, and doing, God brought me to NYC in October of 2011. I was excited, I felt so confidently that God had me where He wanted me. I served for two years as an intern with Cru, working with churches and ministries in the inner city. We equipped them to meet not only physical needs, but spiritual ones as well. We trained partner ministries on how to start programs for adults, we distributed food and other necessary items, and we also helped ministries get volunteers. My role was to share about what God was doing through our ministry via website, Facebook page, and Twitter. I would share about our events and coordinate our volunteers. God enabled me to serve in ways I didn’t anticipate, but were very satisfying. I got to invest in college art students who were following Christ. In the summers of 2012 and 2013, I helped staff short-term mission trips to NYC where students learned how to integrate their art and faith. It was exciting to encourage and help creative believers grow.
Despite these experiences and the desires that God has placed on my heart. There is another place that has stayed on my heart for a number of years and that is Italy. Throughout the past few years, I have considered returning, but God has had me elsewhere. I have decided to step-out in faith and serve God in Rome the next year. This is not because it is comfortable, but because it is a place God has put in my heart. I know that He will use my love for speaking the language (the little I know!) and my intrigue for Italian culture to help me connect with Italians. God often asks for our willingness and obedience and so I am responding by committing to serve in Rome for a year. Following God is always an adventure and I know He will use me in the process!
