Autobiography

Spiritual Formation Autobiography
Although I was technically not born into a Christian family, my parents were saved when I was just age 3 and dedicated their lives to fulltime ministry. At age five I moved with my family to Knoxville, Tennessee to live and serve as missionaries on a church camp. We remained there for a short time before my father heard the call to become a pastor. We moved to Texas where my dad then graduated from seminary. The first church he pastored was where I accepted Christ as my savior and was baptized at age eight. Although this happened at a young age, I know that Jesus saved me and began to work in my life from that point on. In the middle of my third grade year we moved to Grand Prairie, Texas where my dad pastored a church for the next five years. Here I spent my time serving in the nursery and attending every youth event possible. This was home and it was where I believed I was closest to Jesus. However, God began to test my faith in ways I would have never expected.
In February of my eighth grade year, a dear friend of mine passed away in a tragic car accident. He was the first friend I made in youth group and his death definitely took a toll on the church. Shortly after, my father stepped down from his position as pastor, claiming to be mentally unstable to lead a church. A few weeks later my mother served him with divorce papers. Within a matter of months, life changed drastically. I had experienced the loss of a friend and the loss of a complete family and was left with brokenness. When I should have been angry at God the most, he showed me how faithful he was. Jesus was my only hope and stability during this time. Instead of running away from him, he drew me unto himself and gave me joy. Jesus ...

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...what form of ministry I am called to, I do know that I am called and that there is nothing else in this world that I would rather do. I have a lot of maturing to do spiritually and academically but I could not be more excited to see how God leads me. One of my favorite quotes that sums up my excitement in knowing that Christ will continue to work in my life is from Mark Driscoll, “You are not yet who you will be, so keep repenting. But by God’s grace you are not who you were so keep rejoicing.” Although I do not know what is ahead of me, I know that God has a plan and a purpose for me and he is continuing to work in my life daily. My goal for this semester is to be more aware of his presence around me and trust him to guide me through each day. I want to be challenged not only academically, but spiritually so that I may be equipped to do whatever he calls me to do.