I was baptized on October 22, 2016, meaning that I’ve been a Christian for a little over 9 years, and throughout that time I have learned many important lessons about myself and what it truly means to be a Christian. However, the most important lesson I've learned as of yet, happened in November of 2020 when my family traveled 1,249 miles from the state of California to the state of Texas in a massive cross-country move. After we had settled down and been living in Texas for about a month, my mental health began to decline, and all I wanted to do was return to my friends in California. I was convinced that because I was forced to start over, I would never be able to have as great a life as I’d had before, and I slowly began sinking into a depressive state. I had no friends in Texas, my relationship with my family members was becoming strained, and I desperately wanted to return to California. As I was sitting in my room crying one night, mad at my parents, the world, and at God, I decided to open my Bible and read, hoping to find answers from the one I blamed all my problems on. Prior to that night I hadn’t seen the point in reading my Bible; I mean if God loved me like I had been taught my whole life, why would He have allowed this struggle in my life? But God moved in a way only He could, and the first verse I opened up to that night was Romans 8:28, which states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”. Through glassy eyes I read those words over and over again finally realizing that even though His reasons were (and still are) difficult for me to understand, God had lovingly unfolded my life in order to fold Himself back in, I just needed to trust in His plan. Fast forward five years, and now, I’m living in His promise of working everything out for good. I’ve been truly blessed by all of the opportunities that I have received in the 5 years I’ve lived in Texas and I know my life, and my faith, wouldn't be the same if it wasn’t for that move. Being able to look back on that time of my life and see how God was faithful in the middle of my struggle, reminds me that I don't have to face the trials of college alone. I will be majoring in Event Management with hopes of becoming a wedding planner after graduation, and while this may seem like a fun career, I believe that it has the potential to test my beliefs. Marriage has taken a less contemporary turn in the past few years with more and more individuals being accepting towards "gay weddings". As a Christian, this is not a practice I support and so, as a wedding planner, I'll need to tell clients 'No' whenever I am not comfortable planning their wedding. Having to courage to reject potential clients will require me to remain grounded in my faith. For this reason, I plan on being involved in a church throughout college to provide me with other believers who can encourage me. I know that my faith journey is far from over, and there are many more trials waiting for me, but I am confident that He loves me, wants the best for me, and like Romans 8:28 says, will work everything out for good.

Labels are powerful. Labels are how we view the world; they are how we classify people, places, events that happen in our lives, and even ourselves. Labels can be useful if you're trying to organize your various possessions, but believing one, even a good one, can be harmful if it becomes your identity. Whenever one begins to place too much of their identity on a label that themselves, or others, have given them, it's easy to lose sight of who you are without that label and become discouraged anytime that label is not fulfilled. This is a concept I unfortunately have much experience in, due to its prevalence in the acting community. Many actors often place their identity in how their director and castmates view them, or in the character they are playing at the moment instead of who they are off of the stage. I had been a part of the JV theater production class for the past three years of high school, every year hoping that it would be my turn to move up to varsity. I knew that I was a good actress; I had gotten cast in multiple shows for my school and for the various community theaters that I was a part of. I watched all of my friends get moved up to varsity, waiting, but my turn never came. It was easy to be happy for my friends, but I was so confused by what my director saw in them that he didn’t see in me. It was only after auditioning my senior year and making JV again that I realized the significant value I placed on the label I carried for so long. That I was a Theater Kid. Since this is where my identity lied, when I didn’t get into varsity, my mental health spiraled. What kind of theater kid was I if I couldn’t even do it at the varsity level? Why did my director pick her over me? Why was I not good enough? As I was asking myself these mentally draining questions, I began to realize the cause for my spiraling, and that was my label. My whole personality had become theater, so when that failed me, I no longer knew how to define myself or what to place my worth in. Now that I finally understood this, and the negative consequences that came with it, it was time to find a new label for myself. Growing up in a Christian home and going to church my entire life taught me that my identity should not be placed in things of this world, but in Christ. There had been many times when I forgot who I was and needed to be reminded that I was a child of God. This time around I had gotten so caught up in my high school theater career and how the people in my department viewed me that I forgot where my true value came from. According to Matthew 6:26, my value comes from being loved by an everlasting God, not by being cast in a show or being in a varsity class. For this reason, even though I might have called myself a Theater Kid (unwillingly at times I will admit), being a performer was no longer how I wanted to be defined. It had led me down dead end after dead end, and as much as I tried to fill my cup with it, I never felt full. I was reminded of the truth taught in the Bible that the only way to feel truly complete is by placing your identity in Him, not in the things of this world, even something as seemingly harmless as theater. In order to return God as the source of my worth, I needed to fully believe that my identity did not rest in the roles I played or in the label that I had given myself which meant that I needed to remove myself from the environment and quit the thing I loved most. Staying in theater was always an option and I still wonder if I made the right choice, but I had to do what was best for the label I wanted to stick with me until I leave this earth: Child of God. I knew that being surrounded by others who also placed their identity in theater would not help me stand firm on my new identity in Christ. Despite the fact that we were all friends, when it came time to audition for roles, we were competition. People would become hostile towards each other and I had seen many friendships ruined all because of a cast list. In order to stay true to being a Child of God, I needed to shed this negativity and comparison that was ever-present in my theater community. The only way to do this was to shed the label that I had given myself too.

I was baptized on October 22, 2016, meaning that I’ve been a Christian for a little over 9 years, and throughout that time I have learned many important lessons about myself and what it truly means to be a Christian. However, the most important lesson I have learned as of yet, happened in November of 2020 when my family traveled 1,249 miles from the state of California to the state of Texas in a massive cross-country move. After we had settled down and been living in Texas for about a month, my mental health began to decline, and all I wanted to do was return to my friends in California. I was convinced that because I was forced to start over, I would never be able to have as great a life as I’d had before and I slowly began sinking into a depressive state. I had no friends in Texas, my relationship with my family members was becoming more strained, and I desperately wanted to return to California. As I was sitting in my room crying one night, mad at my parents, the world, and at God, I decided to open my Bible and read, hoping to find answers from the one I blamed all my problems on. Prior to that night I hadn’t seen the point in reading my Bible; I mean if God loved me like I had been taught my whole life, why would He have allowed this struggle in my life? But God moved in a way only He could, and the first verse I opened up to that night was Romans 8:28, which states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”. Through glassy eyes I read those words over and over again finally realizing that even though His reasons were (and still are) difficult for me to understand, God had lovingly unfolded my life in order to fold Himself back in, I just needed to trust in His plan. Fast forward five years, and now, I’m living in His promise of turning pain into purpose. I’ve been truly blessed by all of the opportunities that I have received in the 5 years I’ve lived in Texas and I know my life, and my faith, would not have been the same if it wasn’t for that move. Being able to look back on that time of my life and see how God was faithful in the middle of my struggle has given me a hope to turn to whenever I face a trial. Starting college is a new and exciting experience, but I also know that it will be difficult. There will be times when I am lonely, sad, or overwhelmed, however I’ve found that I can always lean on God. Unlike me, He is never lonely, sad, or overwhelmed and is more than capable to carry the weight of my struggles as long as I give them over to Him. I’ve seen how draining my life can get when I don’t give everything to Him which is why I plan on joining a Christian organization in college to provide me with a small group and people who can help hold me accountable in my faith. I know that my faith journey is far from over and there are many more trials waiting for me as I enter college, but I am confident that He loves me, wants the best for me, and like Romans 8:28 says, will work everything out for good.

I’m a theater kid, I’ll admit it. Since I am a theater kid, it is no surprise that I fell in love with the musical Wicked. I still remember the first time I ever watched the musical; I was sitting in English class my freshman year watching a YouTube recording of it on my computer instead of doing my homework. From then on, I was captivated. The story, the colorful characters, the incredible music and the powerful themes driving the show immediately drew me in and I became a huge fan. Even though growing up, I had only seen the Wizard of Oz one time, I knew the plot well enough to know that Wicked was completely different, and for that, I loved it. While the Wizard of Oz is a timeless, colorful story, Wicked is a story of self-discovery and learning to love the person you are. Those were two things I struggled with freshman year whenever I first chose to watch Wicked that one day in English and the reason why it was so impactful on my life. This theme of accepting the person you are is common among many movies, but for some reason, it took me hearing it in Wicked for it to really stick. I realized that no matter how other people viewed me, or even how I viewed myself, I was still worthy of love and friendship. Even though believing this is something I still struggle with, Wicked is a great reminder that the only person who gets to tell me who I am is myself. Whenever it was announced that they were turning Wicked into a movie with famous faces such as Arriana Grande and Jeff Goldblum I was hesitant to go watch it because I was nervous that its powerful message would be taken away. That was not the case. Having already well-known actors and singers in it made it even more popular and allowed its message to reach even more people. Recreating this timeless musical into a movie helped usher in a new generation of Wicked fans who can learn the same lessons that I learned about love and self-discovery, without having to watch it on YouTube during class. Maybe it’s because I am a theater kid, maybe it’s because I needed something I could relate to, or maybe it’s because Wicked was, and still is popular (pun intended), regardless, Wicked became one of my all-time favorite musicals. And that’s high praise coming from a theater kid.