I was trapped in my brokenness, seeking to be satisfied by what the world has to offer. I believed complete satisfaction would be met each weekend I entered the bars, drinking to my heart’s content. Yet, I would wake up each Sunday with immense feelings of shame for what took place the night before. The burden was heavy and I didn’t know how this weight could be lifted. My roommate began going to church while she was home for the summer and when coming back to school, she was eager to find a church in Eau Claire. While her eagerness definitely caused me to roll my eyes, I was also intrigued, and interested to learn more.
We began going to church each Sunday, and while I still was unsure, God used the body of Christ to draw me in. I had never experienced a community like this before – people genuinely cared about me and how I was doing – the relationship was about more than just our weekend plans. Throughout that fall and winter, I began to better understand that the brokenness and shame I felt could be healed in Jesus. Easter is also a special time for me, as it was 11 years ago on Easter Sunday I heard the gospel clearly for the first time. It was then I truly understood how great Jesus’s love is for me and how he made that abundantly clear through coming to earth as a man, stepping in my place by taking on the death I deserve, and then rising by glorious power and reconciling us back to God, our Father.
