First and foremost my faith is a very strong value to my personal life and my relationship with others. Many people have faith in different gods, or spiritual higher powers, and mine is planted in Jesus Christ. My choices and who I aim to be is shaped by this value, as are my other values, but my faith is the root for where my other values derive from. To me, faith means who I place my trust, hope and my source of love. That is why 1 Corinthians 13:13 is such a connection to the foundation of what I aim for the values of my life to be. Faith encompasses so much more than just a belief system in my life. I try my best, and with the Lord’s strength, I try to be an example of my God and Savior and to live the life, and have the values He has for me.
My mother has been the originator, or planter so to speak, of this value. Although both of my parents wanted us children to attend church, my mom’s faith was real and I could see the difference. Even though my father wanted us to go, when it came to his personal life I could tell that his relationship with God and aiming to be a follower of him was not the same as the importance of faith to my mother. My mother did her best to direct my sisters and I to be daughters of Christ by being an example. She would encourage us to go to bible study while she was going as well, encouraged going to vacation bible school during the summer and celebrating holidays such as Christmas and Easter always involved a strong focus on Jesus’ life and teaching. I can’t say that the way she acted was contagious and that it was easy to live the lifestyle of a follower of Christ because my sisters did not have the same experience in their faith being such a part of their lives as it is in mine. My spirit truly resonated with these beliefs and wanting a relationship with God at a young age and that rooted from my mother bringing me to church.
Here is a group of one summer when I was able to go to High School Camp, this experienced really strengthened my faith and gave me more role models of other believers in Christ.
Through the years of going to church and participating in youth groups, camps and bible studies I gained many role models for my personal faith and relationship with God. A particular time of my life of much growth was when I lived in Gig Harbor from when I was in fifth grade to a freshman in high school. My mom encouraged us to attend a church that had a very strong support for missionaries. This is what first sparked my passion for helping those in need and spreading our faith to others to bring salvation to them. The youth pastor and his wife were people of influence in particular. They made a point to send a group of High-Schoolers on a mission trip every summer. I would consider the two of them incredible role models for emulating God’s character and living a life to serve Him. They were people who will forever be a part of how I have grown in my faith as role models and also introducing me to so many impactful experiences. My youth pastor baptizing me was one of these most impactful experiences. Being able to share that with had been through some of my most insecure years during Middle School was a tremendous gift.
Another concrete memory and event that has built my faith was a mission trip I was able to take during the summer of my freshmen year in High School. I look back and see myself as being so young and am shocked that I undertook this at that time. In order to go on the trip the age limit was to be 15 and I would turn 15 on the trip, so I was the youngest one. Even at this young age God had instilled in me to be a voice to His people. I recently remember talking to my mother about all my dreams for working with His people, wanting to travel and visit various organizations around the world. She told me of a time she remembers of these feelings first being shared with her and how she knew it was something that was very close to my heart. She told me of a time when missionaries had come to that church to share what God was doing where they were working and that when I heard the stories of the people in need I had looked at my mother with tears in my eyes and asked her why no one was doing anything for these suffering people. I had not remembered this instance, but realized how much my life has been affected by my beliefs and feelings similar to that. This trip to Jamaica instilled a deeper heart and knowing of how necessary it is for people all around the world need to be aware of their salvation.
My faith and experience of going to Jamaica and numerous other Christian camps have had such a strong influence of how my faith affects me personally, the way I live my life and what I see for my future. I hope to grow in my faith personally and build relationships to shape this growth as well. Professionally I know that with how valuable my faith is to me and the priority it is my future plans, whether they are career plans or personal plans, my faith will not be put on a “back burner”. I see myself to have a calling to share my values with all of those around me in any setting by acting as an example. Faith, similar to many values, is something can never be perfected, but there is always room for improvement. I pray that my future holds a path filled with sharing and growing my faith with my family, future husband and children, church family, friends, co-workers, and anyone else. I pray that I will be able to exchange encouragement in faith with many and to bring faith, hope and love by doing so.
I was able to be a leader at my mother's current church in Lake Oswego. This was the Junior High group at summer camp!
I enjoyed being able to pass down my love for the Lord to my small group of four girls:
