To The Ones Who Have Shaped Me: Thank You

By

The girl you first met is not the same girl pouring out her feelings over tear stained keys now. So many things and people have made me who I am today and it is not till I felt like a part of my heart was ripped from me…did I realize that you had shaped me too. 

I walked into your lives with social anxiety fluttering in my stomach and awkwardness radiating off of me in waves. I had come because I had some faith and because the boy I loved invited me. I was shaking for the first portion of the evening. I just desperately wanted it to be over so that I could run and duck for cover. But it wasn’t until the fun began that my thick layers of anxiety started to shed like old skin…and in a way that’s what happened.

I was welcomed into a space that I came to make my own. Instead of finding the faces of strangers, I found lasting friendships and an abundance of support that I had never known. You became my escape from my weekly nightmares. But most importantly; it was through your words and in your arms that I was filled with a hunger to seek God. I fell even more in love with Jesus and I could never begin to describe how grateful I am.

To the youth leaders who shaped me: thank you for each slowly shaping me in your own ways. For each guiding me in falling in love with my faith… and creating a beautiful human that I love to be.

I know I would be a different person if it had not been for all of you: I would not have this close bond with God and I cannot imagine being without it.

Thank you for all that you have done for me and all that you have supported me through… thank you for shaping me. [tc-mark[