Zaria

I was raised in a Christian household going to church with my family every Sunday for as long as I can remember. I would pray when I woke up, before I went to bed, and occasionally have mini Bible studies with my mom. For a while I loved it, until it became more of a religious obligation than anything else. Still I’d proudly call myself a Christian without giving it a second thought. In 2020, when Covid hit, my family and I started sporadically watching church online and this was a habit I ended up taking to college with me in 2021. During my first year at USF, I was stopped by two different campus ministers.  They both shared with me that just knowing about God, going to church or reading your Bible doesn’t make you a Christian and they invited me to hang out with a few of their friends from church. Having so recently been crying out to God to send me friends, I knew in my heart this was exactly what I needed.

I started doing Bible studies and learned that though I was raised to know who God was, I had no idea who I was created to be in Him and how to really receive that. The concept of giving my life to Jesus was foreign to me up until December 2021. When asked if that was a decision I wanted to make- to follow Him for the rest of my life and lay down my own will to take up His, through tears I said “yes”. I experienced the love and grace of God like never before as I was planted in a local church (Cornerstone), and began desiring only to go deeper and deeper in my newfound relationship with Christ. I learned to pray and seek God’s will for my life, and saw it revealed as making Tampa my home and going into full-time campus ministry. Before graduating this May, I was able to share my faith and the testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness to me with dozens of other girls in leading or helping out with Bible studies and sharing the gospel across other college campuses. I am overjoyed to spend the rest of my life walking side by side with Jesus and to see every other good and perfect thing He has in store for my life.

  -Zaria