The past few weeks at church, for me, have been about opening up and baring my soul. This may sound weird if you can't share the same/similar experience to me but I'll try and explain it further. I recently shared my testimony with my church community and thought that it was time I shared (as much as I could remember) with you as possible.

So here goes...

I lived a fairly normal childhood. My parents weren't together, but they made it work. I went to a Catholic primary school from pre-school through grade seven. Once entering high school, I went to a Catholic high school for three years. And then moved to an independent school (following Presbyterian Methodist values).

Once I left high school, I moved straight out of home. Moving out of home was both the best and worst decision of my life. Best because I was forced to gain more independence, but worst, because I fell into the 'wrong crowd'. I fell into a crowd of people who, looking back, I would consider alcoholics. We would have a drink with lunch, but it would never stop with one. We would go out for mimosas on the weekend, but that would never stop with one either. We would go out every weekend and find ourselves stumbling home at 7am from someone's house we'd met that night. It was a dangerous situation for me to be in and I'm forever thankful that I made it out alive. And I don't even mean metaphorically "alive", there were multiple situations that I found myself in where I thought it was the end. 2015 was rough. I found myself in a tormenting relationship that I thought was normal and only realised it wasn't at the beginning of 2017. Poor, naive me.

February 28th, 2016 was the worst day of my life. I want to avoid getting into details, but I made decisions that day that have continued to haunt me one year later. In the months following, I tried to end my life and began to lose sight of my reason for being on Earth.

Exactly one month later, on March 28, 2016 I walked into I church for the first (proper) time. (I mean "proper" because I had previously walked in for weddings or school functions, but not to attend a church service.) It was an incredibly eye-opening experience and I just remember crying the entire time. I still can't really explain what that feeling was like. In my head, I was going to meet/find Jesus but it felt as though he was at the door waiting for me. I'm not saying that going to church is the only way to find Jesus, but I believe it was the only way for me. I need to be placed in uncomfortable situations for my body to react properly.

I believe I was saved on July 24th, 2016 - the day before semester 2 of uni started last year. That was when I had just arrived home from 6 or so weeks in Seattle and began to realise the impact that your true friends will make on your life.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I still have friends in those groups, where they wake up in some strangers apartment, or start drinking from 10am. Being removed from that for a year now, I realise how damaging it was on many aspects of my health - physical, mental, and otherwise.

This is barely my story, more an overview, but I thought it was about time I shared apart of it. I have received countless emails from lovely readers asking if I could delve deeper into my faith journey, and it just hadn't felt like the right time, until now.

much love, 
XO