To The Ones Who Have Shaped Me: Thank You

The girl you first met is not the same girl pouring out her feelings over tear stained keys now. So many things and people have made me who I am today and it is not till I felt like a part of my heart was ripped from me…did I realize that you had shaped me too. 

I walked into your lives with social anxiety fluttering in my stomach and awkwardness radiating off of me in waves. I had come because I had some faith and because the boy I loved invited me. I was shaking for the first portion of the evening. I just desperately wanted it to be over so that I could run and duck for cover. But it wasn’t until the fun began that my thick layers of anxiety started to shed like old skin…and in a way that’s what happened.

I was welcomed into a space that I came to make my own. Instead of finding the faces of strangers, I found lasting friendships and an abundance of support that I had never known. You became my escape from my weekly nightmares. But most importantly; it was through your words and in your arms that I was filled with a hunger to seek God. I fell even more in love with Jesus and I could never begin to describe how grateful I am.

To the youth leaders who shaped me: thank you for each slowly shaping me in your own ways. For each guiding me in falling in love with my faith… and creating a beautiful human that I love to be.

I know I would be a different person if it had not been for all of you: I would not have this close bond with God and I cannot imagine being without it.

Thank you for all that you have done for me and all that you have supported me through… thank you for shaping me. [tc-mark[