I was raised to believe God created me and loved me. I believed that, but I didn’t fully understand what it meant. My identity was rooted in things I did rather than who I was created to be. Faith was always important, however, it was more of a family practice rather than a personal one for me. I knew I could ask for God’s help if I needed to, but life was pretty good and I didn’t find I needed God that much. I didn’t quite believe that a person could actually find true fulfillment and joy in Christ.
After some turbulent high school years and the ending of a relationship that wasn’t the best influence on me, I felt pretty low and realized that maybe I did need God. I attended a Catholic summer youth camp and had the opportunity to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For the first time I realized that there were serious sins keeping me from knowing Jesus in a personal way. I decided to go to confession and had a truly honest confession where I just laid out every way I had failed. There were tears, but there was freedom! The priest put his hand on my shoulder, smiled at me and said, “Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.” I left that confession and felt like I could fly! I had encountered the love and mercy of Jesus Christ that He had won for me on the cross, 2000 years before, and I couldn’t contain my JOY in accepting this gift! That evening, I had the opportunity to go to Eucharistic Adoration and during the time of prayer, I was invited to stand up as a sign of inviting Jesus to be at the centre of my life; a sign that I would live my life for Him. That night I stood up and committed to living the rest of my life for Jesus!
As I enter my fifth year as a missionary with CCO, I will be leading the team of missionaries at Brock University, our BRAND NEW campus in St. Catharine’s, ON! I am so excited to reach out to the students at Brock, build relationships with them, and help them discover who Jesus truly is and how He can change their lives too.
ONGOING PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for the students I will be working with as well as our campus team at Brock University.
