Devin- Touched

I grew up in the Catholic Church until I was eight years old. When I was eight, my parents divorced, but I didn’t think much of it since I still saw both my parents almost everyday and had good relationships with them. Growing up, through middle and high school I was relatively high achieving being very familiar with good grades, friends, athletic success, acceptance, etc. Everything I thought I wanted, I had. What I didn’t realize was how much pride had been building in my heart; all my successes were mine and all my failures were other people’s.

When I got to UTSA I met a friend who was a part of Chi Alpha. During my first winter break in college I was in a rollover accident while driving to Austin with three friends. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, but as I sat in the back of the ambulance I realized that I didn’t want to live my life in a way that would lead me into situations like the one I was just in. Upon my return to UTSA, my friend reached out to me and invited me to a Chi Alpha service. I decided to check it out and there met my future small group leader. The service was incredible, but I ran away from it anyway.

 Fast forward to the following semester, Fall 2016. The man who would become my small group leader had been pursuing me throughout the previous semester and summer. I finally gave in and went to some event he invited me to. What I found was a community that accepted me, treated me like I’d always been there, and truly showed me what the love of Christ looked like.

Ultimately, after almost 2 years of stubbornly resisting Jesus, everything that I had been trying to achieve and maintain in my own strength had fallen through. As I sat among the broken pieces of all the things I tried to juggle, I called the only person I could think of—my small group leader. He helped guide me through repentance, real belief in who Jesus is, while the Lord cultivated in me a desire for intimacy with Him like I’d never had before. The Lord had touched my heart. Now that Jesus is Lord and Savior of my life, I am obeying his commandments by reconciling the lost, and making disciples.