He is My Foundation – Yadira
My walk with God dates back to when I was a baby. I grew up in a Catholic household and I was baptized in the Catholic church before I was even a year old. We were the typical churchgoing family. My mom and dad would both go on retreats with the church, they served when they could, and we would all dress up to show up for church on Sunday, bright and early. I never really understood what my pastor was saying and I never really cared to understand. I was a kid, so the only thing I really cared about was playing with my friends after church. Even if I was excited to go to church, somehow some way you would still find 4-year-old me sleeping during the sermon.
As I grew up, I eventually grew out of my habit of falling asleep, but I never fell out of the habit of not caring to understand what my pastor was trying to say. Every Sunday felt like the same routine; wake up, get ready, go to church, play, have brunch with my family, and go home. Eventually, this routine ended. My parents would become the talk of our church and so we slowly faded out of this church and started going to a new one. This didn’t last too long either. Eventually, my mom and dad split up and we stopped going to church altogether. That was, until I turned about nine, and my mom decided to sign me up for Sunday School so I could have my first communion. I didn’t learn much. Again, I was there for the social aspect, if I’m being honest. My Sunday School teacher would send us to church and, as proof that we went, we would have to bring back the newsletter they passed out in service. So I went, but again and again, I never understood what the pastor was saying. I thought maybe it was because it was the Spanish service, but we tried the English-speaking service, and still, nothing was registering. I wasn’t grasping what was trying to be shown through the Word. After I took my first communion, my family and I became the family that only showed up for Christmas, Easter, and Mother Mary’s Birthday (which is a huge deal in the Catholic church.)
So, we fast forward to August 2023, and now I’m a freshman in high school. I started talking to this girl in my English and Journalism class. I didn’t know it then, but she would be the reason I would come to know Christ on my own terms. She planted a seed very early in our friendship; she would constantly tell me about Midweek and eventually Color Clash. It piqued my interest, but I wasn’t sure how my mom would feel about it. Fast forward again a few months, and we start planning my fifteenth birthday, a big coming-of-age tradition in Mexican culture. I always believed in God and my mom never stopped believing so we both agreed that a church service had to be incorporated into my big day. I went to a Catholic church, we reserved a day and time, and everything was set for me to have a service for close friends and family. January 6th, 2024 would be one of the last times I would ever step into a Catholic church.
After my birthday, I had no interest in going back. Something in me still reminded me about Midweek, so I brought it back up with Kadynce. She told me I was welcome to go with her and so I did! I went to my first Student Ministry Midweek in August of this year. After I came home, I talked to my family about what I learned and they were all very supportive! Knowing that I had that support from my family made me feel a lot more comfortable about asking them if they would start taking me to Midweek and Sunday Groups. I was consistent from then on out. The beauty of my consistency stems from the fact that I was finally starting to connect the word to my life.
I was finally starting to connect the word to my life.
Aaron, the High School Director, was the speaker at my first Midweek. We were reading John 10:10, and the biggest thing that he said that stuck with me was, “Nothing can bring you joy like the Lord can”. That’s something I started to think about daily. As I started to spend more time in the Word, it made more and more sense. I was getting closer to God on my own terms this time, not because someone else told me what to do. My own personal relationship with God became the reason I found contentment with where I am in my life.
My own personal relationship with God became the reason I found contentment with where I am in my life.
On the first night of Student Weekend, September 13th, 2024, I decided that I wanted to accept God as my Lord and Savior and get baptized. I wanted to make that known and getting baptized was just one way to do that. Aaron baptized me on October 6th at a Night of Worship. Since then, it hasn’t been perfect, but that’s the beauty of it. No matter how hard it’s gotten, God continues to remind me that if I hit rock bottom, He is the rock at the bottom, He is my foundation. I am not the perfect Christian, but I am doing my best to be an example of the Lord’s creations.