I’m 16 years old and I live my life for Jesus Christ. To share a little of my story, I battled the feeling of being broken for years. Cutting came into the picture and my dad went out of it. I searched for something to fill my void in cutting, and most of all acceptance in others. There was nothing that I could do to make myself happy. It was because I strived for perfection in grades, my looks, popularity, and overall acceptance. The truth is, not everyone is gonna like you. Not every guy is gonna think you are beautiful. Grades mean nothing in the real world (its strength, hope and love, FYI) perfection is out of the human reach. I learned that the hard way.

So this is when hope comes into the picture.

I got sick of trying to save myself. I knew God was real, but I didn’t know that it was even possible to have a relationship with him. I started going to a church called Cornerstone about 30 minutes away from my house, non-denominational. They accepted me there. I felt happy. Something felt real. After weeks and weeks of going, I made the life changing decision of giving my life to Christ. The more I let go of me, the more of him I knew. I let go of my cutting, I let go of everything I strived for. And than I started to change, for the better.

My brother goes now too, and my mom just recently got baptized. This whole family changed, and nothing would’ve turned out the way my family did without Christ. Christ has put a passion in my heart to tell others that HOPE IS REAL, and that somebody loves them. Jesus Christ loves you, and so do I. Love is real, hope is real, and a relationship with Christ is real.

I don’t know where I would be without him. Through the brokenness I saw beauty, through hopelessness I saw hope, through hate I saw love, and through hurt I saw healing. What im saying is, I don’t regret what I went through, because now I can share my story to the broken. I can relate to them, I know how they feel, but I also know how they COULD feel, which is beautiful.

Everybody deserves love. Everybody needs a savior. Everybody needs one more chance.

I don’t strive for a lot of money, a hot boyfriend, a lot of friends, or having the party of the year. I wanna wake up every morning knowing that there is someone out there that I can tell about Jesus. I wanna save lives, and I will do everything in my power to do that.