When did Jesus first get your attention?
Being raised in a practicing Catholic family, Jesus has always been a significant part of my life. I grew up going to church, Sunday school, being the first one in and a last one out at church events and was fully immersed in the church. I’m very grateful for the foundation that gave me for many things in my faith, but it wasn’t until high school when Jesus fully grabbed my attention and my understanding of what it meant to have a relationship with him was realized. Through camp ministry and having an opportunity to be a Leader in Training at Camp Kadesh, Jesus showed me what it meant to truly live for Him, follow Him and be a disciple rather than just saying I was a Christian and living life normally outside of Church.
What is a faith marker in your life?
A big faith marker in my life would be my high school senior year. This year came with a lot of high highs and low lows. After summer at camp, I decided I was going to fully live for Jesus and went full force into the year, including volunteering at Jr High at Forest Grove as a leader, being a part of a prayer group at my school, going on Project Serve and attending Forest Grove Sunday Service, Sr High and Saskatoon Worship community events regularly. On top of this busy schedule and deciding what I would do going forward after high school, God threw a lot of family struggles on my path that caused me to evaluate my faith and how these things impacted my beliefs. Although this was one of the craziest times in my faith and life, it was also the time I felt most immersed in God’s presence.
What’s Jesus doing in your life right now?
Jesus is currently showing me child-like faith through my daughter and mature faith through my husband. Through my daughter, I see a child of God who is kind and pure, who loves to sing “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of her lungs, asks if someone is okay and gives them a hug when they seem hurt and cares and shows emotion deeply. Through my husband, I see a mature, wise man of God who is teaching our family to re-evaluate our faith and the things we have thought to be true in the past through learning and standing up for injustices and the basics of what things would have looked like in Jesus’ day. These two give me completely new eyes for how Jesus loves and works in others and can show his goodness in so many unique ways.
What is a favourite scripture and why?
Scripture tends to be seasonal for me and God really brings to my attention specific scripture at a time when I need it most in my life. I would say overall, the greatest commandment has been one that consistently comes up as a hard reminder – to love with everything that I am. This doesn’t always come naturally to me as someone who is very logical, but brings me back to the heart of who Jesus is. It is an all-encompassing verse that is a good reminder of where to walk in my faith journey.
“Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22. 37-40
Why do you love Forest Grove Community Church?
To me, Forest Grove Community Church has always been a place of challenge. A place that challenges the norms of what our society says and chooses to think differently. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This is something I really see as truth in our church. From being challenged in high school at Jr and Sr High to think differently about a certain video that is going viral to being a church that decides to tackle hard topics like racism and sexual exploitation, I have grown challenged as a Christian through the approach our church takes to really dig into hard things and search for the heart of God in all things.