My Life

I am seventeen years old, I grew up in a Christian family and went to church basically every Sunday. My mom was a nurse, and my dad a state cop; so for the most part I stayed out of trouble as a kid. A romantic, even growing up, adventure and travel always seemed to appeal to me. My dream was to be an "adventure girl" when I was older, that, and save the world or something like that. (No big deal- Right?!) I grew up believing in Christ accepting him as my savior, but around fourth or fifth grade I made sure that I was in fact saved; asking Jesus:

If I never asked you into my heart before, I want you to now. I know I've done some bad things, please forgive me and help me to live for you....

I was pretty sure beforehand that I had already been saved, but from that moment I knew I had at one certain point in time asked God to forgive me and make me His, and since then my walk of faith has been a learning experience.

In fifth grade I went on a medical mission trip to Nicaragua with my family for two weeks where we held medical clinics etc. As I was only eleven years old I couldn't do much of the medical work, but I did get to play with the Nicaraguan kids, and count pills for my mom at the clinic. In Nicaragua it was really hot whenever the sun came out, and lots of the people there were living in shacks. It was EXTREME poverty. Living in Nicaragua for just two weeks as an eleven year old changed my outlook drastically, however. Being used to living comfortably in the States, the living conditions were so different that it helped me to see how much that I really did have back at home. Another thing I began to grasp from my trip was how to be content in any circumstance. Although many of the people living in Nicaragua were very poor, they had joy.

Returning to the States after my first mission trip was bittersweet. While, it was nice to have air conditioning, clean rooms, and my own bed again, it was hard to watch people leaving their sprinklers on during the day to water their grass with fresh clean water, when I had just left a country where people got sick because they did not have clean water to drink.

My first mission trip introduced me to the idea of being a missionary, that I could travel and tell people about God's love and get to help them at the same time. It started to look like my childhood dreams had begun to shape into a lifestyle that might be possible for me in the future.

In middle school I participated in summer bible camps, and I must say that they were the spiritual high points of those years. Coming home from summer camp I felt ALIVE and on fire for God, wanting to grow in him and tell everyone about his incredible love. The spiritual highs would last usually for a week, two weeks, sometimes a couple months... but eventually they would fade and I would slip back into my comfortable lifestyle.

I played sports all throughout middle school. Volleyball, Basketball, Track and Field, and then Softball in the summer. On top of sports I participated in school plays, musicals, Science Olympiad, Girl Scouts, occasionally attending youth group, and still made time for hanging out with friends and doing my homework. They were an awesome three years of middle school but I didn't grow too much spiritually because I lacked the discipline I needed to continue growing.

My freshman year of high school I transferred to Manistee High School, where I was still on a spiritual high from a bible camp I had attended that summer. I started out high school, in a new school where I had no friends. It tore me apart. I literally cried myself to sleep every night. Sports helped me make some friends that I could sit with at lunch, but for the most part while I was at school I felt alone. While sports offered some comfort, and my parents tried to help me make new friends, it was God that got me through those first two years of high school, and has been sustaining me all along. Every night while I cried my eyes out, God was there with me listening to my pain and helping me through it. I told God all my troubles, and honestly felt better knowing that He was in control.

As high school continued, it got a little easier. I made some upperclassmen friends that were awesome and completely took me in like one of their own. When they graduated before me, I felt like I was going back to square one again, almost. My senior year I was basically starting all over friend wise... I had some okay friends but no best friends, as they had gone to college and I was stuck in high school.

The summer before senior year was a major turning point in my life and spiritual journey. The winter of my junior year I decided that I wanted to go on another mission trip, so I looked online and found teen missions international, where teens can go on work and evangelism trips to different parts of the world. I thought that it seemed awesome and found a trip I felt God might be calling me to go on- Samoa Tsunami Relief 2010.

That summer I went on my mission trip (concurrent journal "Samoan Adventure" in my blog Expanded Written Editions of My Adventures) and it completely changed my life. Entering my trip I was worried that I wouldn't make any friends on my trip, and I would be stuck with people I did not like for 2 months of the summer. However, when I got to boot camp before shipping overseas, God proved me completely wrong!
Some of the best friends I have ever made, and I believe will ever have, I made on that trip. I still keep in contact with them, and love them so much! I don't get to see them often, in fact I haven't seen most of them in almost a year, as they live all over the states, but they will always be close in my mind and heart.

At the Lord's Boot camp in Florida, we trained for about 3 and a half weeks in blistering heat. My ankles suffered the most from my boots that had to be worn at all times, and after the first day there I had huge blisters on both ankles, which became blisters under blisters as the days progressed. Until finally I had huge holes in my ankles that hurt so bad I was on the verge of tears simply walking and trying to keep up with my team. Through everything, God carried me. I did not have the strength to persevere through the pain, but God did. Boot camp was so life changing to me because 1) it taught me to fully rely on God to be my strength and 2) it showed me that I needed to give God EVERYTHING in my life. He wanted ALL of it. There was no better place than boot camp for me to learn this. I felt alone at times, I had unbearable pain, and I needed someone to carry me. God was that one. And still is.

Before boot camp I had tried to surrender my life to God and His will, but I had failed repeatedly; always holding back things I felt I had control of; the music I listened to, the words I said, some of the things I thought. I wanted control for myself, and was not willing to give them up. That is, until I was broken enough to realize that it is God that lifts us up and carries us, even when we can't see Him working. God is there with us, and he loves us, and there is nothing better that you can do with your life than to surrender it completely to him.

Returning from my trip to Western Samoa, my team had debriefing in Merit Island Florida. It was three days until I got to go home and see my much missed family, and yet at the same time, three days that I had left to spend with my entire new family. During debrief we had classes on keeping the fire going, and I felt God pulling me towards full time service for him. From that moment on, I have known for sure that missionary work is what God has placed on my heart and what he wants me to do with my life to serve Him.

My senior year ended up going quite awesomely. I had found where the true source of my strength came from just in time, and let God help me through the rest of the year. I had friends when I went back to school, and started going to youth group- where I met and grew closer to some of the coolest Christian people I know. I made some great friends there, grew closer to God, and got to have lots of fun with dodge ball and other crazy youth group games.

I have now completed high school, and plan to go to college in just a couple of weeks. I'm going to be studying Intercultural Studies, to prepare me for mission work. I'm planning on being a full time missionary, Lord willing, and am still waiting on where He would have me go.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my life. But more importantly I want to encourage you that God loves you incredibly much! If you have accepted Christ as your savior already- that's great! I want to encourage you to keep in the word because it lends strength and encouragement when you need it.

If you want to know more about what it means to know Christ feel free to comment or email me at schneiaj@grace.edu and I'll do my best to answer your questions.