Hello everyone, As many of you know, Ive been attending church pretty much ever since I was born.

There was never a time that my physical being wasnt in a church somewhere at least once a week. And up to the third or fourth grade, I actually enjoyed it and was even the type to raise my hand and say J is for Jesus! during class. It all changed when I moved to South Fremont and began a whole different life where I felt myself begin to struggle with superficial things like popularity, prettiness, and being pathetic. Almost everything was new when I moved; my church, school, friends, and worst of all, self. I also began an addiction that probably brought me to the lowest place Ive ever known myself to be. I was the lost prodigal, living in the muck of my sin and teenage angst, and God was definitely out of my life, barely part of a corner in my thoughts. Eventually, there was no place to go but upwards, and I began turning to new things as a way out. Anything, anywhere, was better than where I was: alone, unhappy, and detestable. So, I found myself at the Rock, actually reluctantly, since my mom sent me there because she thought it would be healthy for me. There, I found Betsy, Helicon, and mostly, part of my old self, and something new as well. It was the perfect merge of my current and past life, and I felt like I really didnt go somewhere new, but back home where I belonged with the Father. His love and mercy began changing me inside out and attacking the problems in ways I've never thought of. I can almost hear God saying, "For this my daughter was dead, and is alive again; she was lost, and is found." For the pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration. He has more than reconciled with me, and although my life situation isnt at all perfect and wonderful in the way I hoped it would be, God changed me, and thats what counts.