I am grateful to have been raised by Christian parents who, while not perfect, raised me to know the gospel from a very young age. Growing up, I took for granted the Savior that I learned about every week in church and at home. My life was a series of selfish decisions aimed at my own achievement rather than God’s glory. This continued as I began college and sought my identity in my major, my friends, and my achievements. For the next few years, I wrestled with a desire to keep one foot in the world, never realizing that both feet were actually firmly planted there. I could feel the Lord drawing me to himself but wasn’t willing to surrender control of my life or sacrifice my own plans for his.

My junior year of college I signed up for a spring break mission trip with the college ministry I had started going to the previous summer. As I spent time with people whose hope in Christ was evident in their everyday lives, I became eager for that hope in my own. That week, the Lord removed all the excuses I’d been making, and my heart broke over my sin. I finally understood that I could not live according to both flesh and the Spirit and that, while nothing in my flesh could save me, the Spirit offered me life and peace. Through my last two years of college, my faith grew as I understood my sin more deeply, Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf and God’s immense grace in light of it.

My years since becoming a believer have been a continual lesson in sanctification as I’ve learned to rely more fully on God and to trust in his promises. Sin and suffering have attacked in ways I can’t imagine enduring without Jesus, and I am daily reminded what a gift it is to have a Savior interceding on my behalf and a God who works all things for my good and His glory.