I first asked Jesus into my life at Vacation Bible School when I was six years old. From an early age, my faith was a constant part of my life—nurtured through youth groups, Bible studies, and regular church attendance throughout high school and college. I was surrounded by people who believed as I did, and for many years, I walked comfortably within a faith that had been given to me.
That changed after college, when I moved to San Antonio and entered the working world. It was a season marked by loneliness, uncertainty, and disconnection. For the first time, I had to seek out community, find a church on my own, and build relationships without the familiar framework of school or shared history. I also began to encounter people with life experiences, values, and beliefs very different from my own. These encounters challenged me to move beyond the inherited faith of my upbringing and start asking deeper questions: “Who is God, really?” “What does it mean to follow Him in a complex, broken world?”
In that space of searching and discomfort, my spiritual growth began to take root in a more personal way. I started volunteering in my church’s youth ministry—not as a solution to my doubts, but as a way to serve while I waited for connection. What I found was unexpected: a meaningful community, lifelong friendships, and a deeper awareness of God’s presence in both the quiet and uncertain places of life. I met my husband during that time, and together we grew in faith and community.
Now, twenty years later, we’re still serving alongside the same community of lifelong friends. My relationship with God has evolved—not just as a set of beliefs, but as a lived trust in His faithfulness. That trust gives me the freedom to continue asking hard questions, to wrestle honestly with doubts, and to grow in love and understanding. What began as a child’s simple prayer has become a lifelong journey of transformation.
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