My very first exposure to God was in pre-k. Sure, I was four years old and I had limited knowledge of who He was. I knew that I went to a Catholic school to learn about Jesus, but I never knew why I should learn about Him. Now, before I go any further, I want to point out the fact that after being in a Catholic school for ten years, my faith definitely did not grow. I am not perfect. Having rules being forced upon me, was not my thing. No nail polish, no jewelry, and uniforms were not my forte. I tried my best to pay attention in Religion class, because that is the reason I was attending that school, right? But, I could not pay attention. I resented the people who made me go to mass on Wednesdays and Sundays and would rather do anything but that.
This all changed this past September. I moved to North Carolina and I started a brand new school. On the first day of school, I approached a group of girls and asked to sit with them at lunch. What I did not know is that one of those girls would soon grow into my best friend, and the one who introduced me to my favorite place. Lyric texted me that week and asked me if I wanted to come to church with her. Admittedly, I was nervous, because who is not when they go to a new place with new people they have never met. When I went to church, I sat with Lyric, when the worship music started, I was a little out of my comfort zone. I had listened to Christian music before but I had never seen hands raised in praise. I had never seen a group of people be so passionate. After service, I was introduced to two people- Robby and Jake. These two have been such important people in my life since then. I was introduced to a couple more people, but these two are important. That night, I joined Lyric at her youth group. I knew as soon as I sat down with those people, that, that was where I belonged. It has been almost five months since my original visit to Journey church, and I have been going ever since. My life has changed in more ways than my hands could even type. My heart was broken and then put back together by my family at Path. My family at Path have become my safe haven, where I want to spend my whole Sunday. Their families have become my family. My walk through faith was a rugged hike, and boy is it far from over, but that time when I was in middle school, and my first two years of high school when I resented God and I resented church, those years of making questionable decisions, and shutting out God, those are the years that have shaped me into the person that I am today. Those years are me. Sure, I always want to scratch out those years and pretend that they did not exist, but they are me. I know for a fact that I would not be as close with God if those years had not happened, if those decisions were not made. I had to hurt in order to be helped. I had to break in order to be put back together. I am the absolute happiest I have ever been, I have the bestest friends that I could have ever prayed for, I am at a stage in my life where everything is uncertain. But, I know that God has my life planned out. He has my life planned out and he will never let me down. I doubt sometimes if I have a plan, if I have a purpose, or if I have a meaning. But, all I do know is that I have people who have my back, I have Jesus to walk behind me every step of the way and tell me “you are mine”, he walks with me and I know that no matter how bad I mess up, He will always love me.
Maxwell Farms 