The Glory of God

    With a new attitude and new opportunities, I began high school. High school provided me with all the activities and creative outlets I had longed for - friends, theater, choir, a small band, missions trips, worship team, and student government. I began to flourish and the main person behind this was my mom. Despite the physical limitations caused by MS, my mom was incredibly involved in every area of my life. Regardless of how tired she was, my mom never complained and showed up at every choir concert, every play performance, every fundraiser, every basketball game, often recording for my dad or other parents. The school should have a plaque in her honor. Each late night after practice or rehearsal when we got home after dinner time, she sat with us while we ate and listened as we recounted the banalities of our day. Each morning began with her softly knocking on our doors and ended with her screaming at my brother that he would once again be late for school if he didn't get out of bed. She was the ultimate high-school mom, creating a home that was inviting and welcoming for all, a home that hosting countless cast parties and all nighters with our friends. She made it a place you and your friends wanted to be, and was always there to hand out pizza or pour bowls of cereal to a bleary-eyed group of teenagers.

   The summer after my sophomore year, we went back to the states for a summer furlough. We visited church after church after church and I began to dread Sundays. The churches felt unwelcoming and cold. No one reached out to the visiting missionary kids. At the same time, I saw things that I was missing at my parents' church. Youth group, modern worship music, service opportunities, even the idea that church could be fun. I became aware that I wasn't growing in my faith in our current church. Once back in Vienna, I began exploring the idea of attending a different church. I visited one church several times with a friend and felt a sense of warmth and peace. My parents were very reticent to idea of me changing churches, my dad especially. Despite explaining that it wasn't that I didn't want to go to church with him, he didn't want to let me. He asked, "What goes next? Family dinners?" But after a conversation with his mom, a godly women whose life is the very embodiment of ministry, he finally let me go. She had told him that if her parents hadn't let her do that very same thing, she didn't know where she would be in her own faith. My brother soon followed and we attended church together, taking the train together, an hour each way.

    My senior year was everything a senior year should be. I applied to colleges and in the end my decision came between Pepperdine University and Biola University. My final choice was Biola due to better financial aid. I was disappointed, feeling like I was headed to my second choice school, but looking back I know God was leading me where He wanted me. Had it been up to me, I would have been on the beach in Malibu and God, in his infinite wisdom, know I needed help instead going to suburbs. Graduation brought with it a bittersweet ending. My academic strengths had continued through school along with a strong desire to be the best, and I was the Valedictorian. At the ceremony, I received an award, and when it was presented to me, the principal read this quote, "The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive" - St. Iraneaus. This quote summarized my high school experience perfectly. I had learned so many lessons about who I am and the joy that I find in being and doing to the fullest while keeping your eyes on the Savior. I learned that God truly delights in our joy.