The University of Alabama (until I graduate in December!)

Roll Tide Roll!

I grew up Catholic, so I knew how to live a life like Christ. I went to Catholic school, I went to Mass on Sundays, I prayed before meals and before going to sleep. My faith has always been a big part of my life. In high school, I was pulled in many different directions, and dance, for example, was one of the things that consumed most of my time. I remember going on the McGill women’s retreat every year, and every year I would encounter Christ in the Eucharist during Eucharistic Adoration, but then I would never cultivate our relationship, and the weight of the world would push me to carry on with a life where I knew something was missing.

In college, I got plugged into Bama Catholic pretty early on thanks to my mom. I got put into a FOCUS Bible study that I remained faithful in attendance to my entire freshman year. I continued to go to Sunday Mass as well, but when second semester of that year rolled around, I realized that I wanted more out of my life, I wanted what I knew was missing. From there, I immersed myself into the faith, learning what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus, authentic and virtuous friends, and the opportunity to share the Gospel with others.

I got more involved in FOCUS, including discipleship, leading my own Bible study, and going to Charleston, SC for a whole summer devoted to Jesus, spreading the Gospel to those we worked with and met on the streets, and growing in friendship with others wanting those same things I had wanted for so long.

FOCUS has played such a large part in my life, and it’s because of my FOCUS missionaries that I finally made my faith a priority and not just a big part in my life, something my parents prayed for my whole life. They planted the seeds of conversion in me, and God gave me the grace to turn away from a life of mediocrity and toward a life of greatness. Once I knew God was opening the doors to me being a missionary, I decided to say YES to FOCUS, to say yes to leading others toward Christ.

I have realized the best thing I can do in my life is make a gift of myself to others just like Jesus did when He saved us all with His total gift of self on the Cross. Like the Bible verse above, I heard the call of Jesus, and I am ready to serve Him with courage and trust.

In Matthew 28:19, He sends out the apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations,” something called His “great commission.” As FOCUS missionaries, we are called to do the same.