So when we last left off I was a tiny girl in a folding chair in a small country church... let's skip ahead to my teen years.... 17 to be exact...
I was not the model citizen of God's heavenly army that you may expect (or I hope you would). I am very much a people person and need to be liked by people (my personal snare that Satan trips me up on ALL.THE.TIME) and coming from a very small town where there were not many Christian influences, I quickly fell prey to all forms of people-idols.
One of the small things that my parents did to help us to find like-minded folk was to send us away to summer camp each year to a place called Word of Life. It was through years of contact with many Christian kids/teens that I got a glimpse of the bigger world than my teeny little world in upstate NY. One summer I even spent the entire summer working as a waitress at their resort. It was at this time I was introduced to the Word of Life Bible Institute. Now, for those of you not familiar with this particular institution... it is a year-long intense dive into all things Bible related in an ultra-strict, some calling it legalistic, type of place. Just to give you a favor of the culture, no PC (personal contact) between males and females, no movies, no radios, no card games, no televisions, and so and so forth... So for a 16-year old kid, there for the summer, still liking to go home and live a normal life... going to college here? NOT A CHANCE!! Can you see where I am going?
On the back side of this little story, my grandmother graduated from Liberty University and loved it, so much so she encouraged all her grandchildren to attend there. I took her up on it. While a Liberty is a private christian college (which made my parents happy), it was big and it was a normal college with normal rules.
It was also that year that a large grant came through that made going to Liberty University a great deal and can you guess what the deal included??... you guessed it...you had to do your freshman year at Word of Life Bible Institute. So that is how at 17 I suddenly find my sitting at computer filling out an application for WOLBI and not exactly knowing how I got there but convincing myself I can do anything for a year... right?
So long story short I end up at WOLBI and lo and behold it is actually good for me and I enjoy it. But more than that it is where I end up seeing the Christian life lived out for real in others, I see what it really means to be a Christian. Which means in January 1994 I rededicated my life and this time I made it my own. Which bring me to the next stage of my story... did I really mean it? Stay tuned....
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