Katie

“My whole life I’ve looked at my faith as a code by which to live and eventually if I followed this code, I would be happy and satisfied. I thought I had a strong faith foundation but that foundation crumbled when I heard John Leyendecker’s talk at Focus Conference 2011. I heard of his strong relationship with Christ and Mary his mother, and realized that I did not have that in my life. I had never thought that a relationship with Christ was what I needed. I thought obedience was enough. During Dr. Reyes’s keynote, he spoke about how God gave us free will to obey him and love him. I thought that I had known this fact before and tried to explain it to others. So much more came out of it when he added that God will follow us no matter what we do; He will never give up on us. Faith seemed to become more of a journey with the Lord and not just obedience. Then came Chris Stefanick’s talk making all of us take a step back and look at what the Lord has done for us and how much he loves us. This made Dr. Reyes’s talk even more poignant because at that point I realized that Christ loves us so much that he will follow us on our journey through life. In one weekend my faith changed from being simple obedience to God’s Word to a journey with the Lord where I can have a relationship with my Creator and where I can run to him with any need that I have.”
-Katie, Freshman