It all started one evening in the winter of 2020. I had just finished my first year of 2D animation at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, and was halfway through my second year. I was already exhausted, and felt very unfulfilled in my studies, despite receiving high praise from family and friends for my artistic accomplishments. I felt like this was not the career that God was calling me into, even though many others tried to reassure me that my artistic abilities would pay off in the long run. I sat down and I prayed, nay, pleaded with God to give me a new path at another school I wanted to attend named Northwest Nazarene University. He was quick in responding to my prayer telling me to pursue social work. While hesitant at first, I was enjoying my studies in a degree that was otherwise foreign to me! I was thriving in my new campus life, and excelling in all my classes! But what has really helped narrow down the field of Social Work that I am pursuing is my experience in helping the homeless population. Recently, I have partnered with the 5280 Homeless Ministry in Englewood, Colorado as a summer intern. During my time, I have been able to sit down and talk with clients who are homeless and truly bond with them in fellowship as my coworkers and I come alongside the homeless to provide resources that are needed. We provide a warm meal on the days we are open, a clothing bank, and we even provide those in need with access to a shower. Our more advanced resources include our mental health services, and assisting with housing applications. Ever since joining the 5280 ministry, I have wanted to pursue helping the homeless in any way I can. With my degree, I will be able to study how to interact and help those who experience substance abuse in the fall term of 2022. If I am able to find my tuition, I will be able to help more of the homeless population who struggle with substance abuse by providing counseling sessions, a support group, and many other resources to help fight one of the biggest problems facing not only the homeless community, but North America as we know it today. I want to serve the homeless community as well as God by pursuing my education, and hopefully pursuing a career as a social worker.

My goal for the future is to open a halfway house for the homeless and help them re-enter society with the tools they need to thrive. Currently, I am a student at Northwest Nazarene University studying for a social work degree. I want to be able to help the homeless apply for jobs, budget money, and provide them with a safe place to sleep at night. This goal came to me in August of 2020 when Jesus told me to begin studying social work. At the time, I was a 2D animation major at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, but I had been praying for God to help me. While studying 2D animation, I had the nagging feeling that it was not what I was supposed to do in my life. I felt unfulfilled by the very thing I thought was my destiny all along. So after praying to God about it for a long time, He finally answered my prayer. Now I am on fire for God, and the goal he has given me. I want to do everything in my power to help the homeless but I cannot accomplish this without some help in funding my academic studies.

One of my favorite memory dates back to May of 2020 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My church and I had gone on a women's retreat at the Glen Eyrie hotel, a former castle belonging to the founder of Colorado Springs, William Jackson Palmer. During the retreat, we experienced an excellent sermon from a guest speaker, an elaborate tea-time lunch, spectacular views of the hiking trails provided on the campus, as well as a spiritual awakening in our hearts. This was the first retreat I had been on, and I could not have asked for anything better!

I have learned that I have a mental illness called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, also known as OCD. I found out about my mental illness three years ago, during my first year of college. I was away from home, and I began to have incredibly anxious thoughts to the point where I would go into panic attacks daily. After many examinations and other diagnoses from various doctors, I was diagnosed with OCD. After that, my doctors prescribed me many different medications, which, up until last year, never seemed to work. My mother, who went through a lot of stress trying to help me, and keep me calm, had helped me the most by finding numerous articles, treatment plans, meditations, and coping skills that would help me in this uphill battle. The most important thing I have learned about my OCD is that my irrational, obsessive thoughts are like a child throwing a temper tantrum. I can not let my thoughts control what I do. One of my coping methods is imagining that I am the Super Nanny from TLC and that I must place my "child" (the OCD thoughts) on "the naughty spot." I essentially have to give my mind a time out and say, "nope. I am not going to think about that," until I have calmed down from the adrenaline rush that is usually paired with the irritating thought. Compared to how I started three years ago and how I am handling my situation now, I can say with utmost certainty that I have improved my mental well-being.

The most inspiring book I have ever read is the book of Esther from the Bible. The story tells of a young Jewish girl who had become queen after the king of Persia, King Xerxes, divorced the first queen. After a few years of Esther being queen, a man named Haman plots to kill all Jewish people because he hates one man named Mordecai, who just so happens to be Esther's uncle. When Mordecai hears of Haman's plot, he tells Esther that she must go to the king on behalf of her people and beg for mercy. However, if Esther were to show up before the king unannounced, the king would execute her. During this conversation is when my favorite Bible verse appears; Mordecai rebuttals Esther's objections to appearing before the king by stating, "Maybe you were made queen for just a time as this?" (Esther 4:14 MSG). After hearing this, Esther decides to pray to God for help and wisdom of what to say to the king. Eventually, Esther tells King Xerxes about Haman's plot and begs for mercy. Because King Xerxes takes delight in Esther, he grants her request, and at the same time, he is enraged with Haman's wickedness and trickery within the story. I love this story because it reminds me that God has placed me here for a specific purpose. He has given me a hope and a future, and He will see me through to the future He has promised me! Whenever I feel stressed or feel like quitting, I am reminded of Mordecai's words. "Perhaps God has placed you here for such a time as this." This verse gives me the strength to continue my college studies because I am reminded that this is the plan God has for me.

When I was five years old, I lost my grandmother. It was devastating to me to lose someone I was so close to at such a young age. Throughout elementary school, death seemed to follow me, and I lost more family members to incurable diseases. For a long time, I had been depressed wondering why I had to lose so many people in my life. Why was my family experiencing this much pain? I had become distant from my family throughout middle school and high school. We became angry with each other at the drop of a hat, fighting about anything and everything. I had just wanted to be alone to sort out my own pain as if my family wasn't experiencing the exact same thing. In my mind, my family just "didn't understand" how much the loss of other family members tortured me in my teenage years. But when I finally reached college, my first year I realized how grateful I was to still have the family I did. I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to have a connection, no, a real relationship with my family members. So I began the long process of trying to mend the bonds that I had broken between my brothers and me. At first, they wanted nothing to do with me, and they just wanted me to leave them alone. Sometimes, all I could do was simply ask if they wanted me to bring them back something from McDonald's. But in my eyes, anything I could do to show them I cared was enough if it helped my brothers know that I love them. As of right now, our relationship is still shaky, and there are times when I feel like they still want nothing to do with me; but compared to how our relationship used to be, we have all made leaps and bounds in coming together as a family again. Until we are able to communicate our emotions effectively, and truly forgive each other for our past mistakes, I guess I will just have to keep buying my brothers more McDonald's.

My entire college experience up to this point has been a roller coaster, but nothing compares to the experience I am about to share with you. To set the scene, I was a freshman at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design studying what I had thought was going to be my future career, 2D Animation. At the time, I thought I had the creative and artistic capabilities to make a new hit cartoon show. However, after a lot of art critiques, I quickly discovered that art is not my strong suit. But I didn't know what else I could do! I was already quite far along in my program. Until one day, I was sitting alone in my room trying to figure out what I should do. I had constantly been praying to God as to what He wanted me to do with my career up to this point, and whether or not I should switch colleges and do something else. However, I did not expect God to say this! I was looking at a list of degrees that I could study at a college named Northwest Nazarene University. Then all of the sudden, God said: "go into social work". At first, I thought that I had misheard Him. 'Social work?' I thought, "I don't wanna do that." For the first few weeks, I had struggled with what God had said. I was essentially saying: "no thanks, I don't think that's right for me." Even though I had asked God what He thought I should do. To try and wrap this story up, I eventually said yes to God's suggestion. The best part is that I actually love social work, and I am absolutely thriving in my new course of study!

Abortion. One of the most debated topics in the United States of America. Should a mother have the right to terminate the baby in her womb? Does the baby have any rights while in the mother's womb? In my opinion, the mothers who choose to abort their babies are making the biggest mistake of their lives. In my experience, I have heard and seen many cases on both sides of the argument, and out of personal convictions, I side with the pro-life organization. This is due to the undeniable fact that a mother's womb should be the safest place for a baby to be. But now, in our modern society, it has become the most dangerous place for a baby due to the lies that have been spread around about the development of the fetus within a mother's womb. When I first heard the statement that "A fetus is not a living human being", I was shocked and appalled. Not a human being? Well, then why does the mother have to eat more to feed the fetus, and make sure that she is not smoking or drinking alcohol while she is pregnant? If it were not a living human being, then a mother should have no fear of the effects of alcohol and nicotine on the fetus. Furthermore, this statement poses the question of "what is a living thing?" If a fetus is not a living being, then why is a baby considered a living creature or any human for that matter? It just does not make sense for an argument to be that a fetus "is not a living creature" when we can also claim that human beings and babies are living creatures. It creates too much of a paradox while trying to answer the question. Moving on from this subject, I have seen the horrible visual images of abortion. Never in person, but rather on banners and pro-life protester signs. When looking at images such as this, I cannot help but cry. In my opinion, would-be parents are now able to legally get away with murdering a helpless child. The fetus never even had a chance to be loved by its mother, because the mother had some personal reasons for not wanting to have this child in her life. I understand that there are some situations where a woman may have been raped and would not want to take care of a child that was the by-product of a traumatic experience. However, that does not justify murdering the helpless fetus within the womb. Especially when we live in a day and age where adoption agencies and support groups are readily available to women who are struggling. The last reason I am pro-life is that we are living in a culture that allows mothers who cannot have a child, adopt a baby of their own. But these mothers cannot truly be a mother if biological parents are aborting the children before they are even born. I have heard of desperate mothers standing outside of abortion clinics holding signs saying "I will adopt your baby", or something of the like, while would-be mothers walk in to abort the baby anyway. In conclusion, I am a pro-life advocate because we live in a world where abortion has never been necessary.