“A born and raised Canadian, I decided to find a nursing job in the States after COVID, and for some reason, the Lord brought me to a small city outside of Dallas––Paris, Texas. I packed everything I owned in my car, said goodbye to my family, and started a new season in Texas. As I look back, I’ve seen the Lord’s faithfulness unfold through every season and time of my life, even when I wasn’t pursuing him.
“As a young kid and all growing up, my family went to church every Sunday. To me, that is just what we did because we were Christians, but as I’ve grown, I can see that I didn’t have a relationship with the Lord. I’m still so thankful my mom built a foundation for us to go to church and read his word––it gave me somewhere to turn when life became really challenging later as an adult.
“When I started college, I lived two very different lives. I’d show up for church on Sundays, but I spent the week living my life the way I wanted.
“I wanted to keep these two sections of my life very separate and continued to do so for a few years. Even after I moved to Texas, part of me wanted to prioritize my faith and church, but I continued to live my life on my terms. I quickly found out that the church I began to attend in my small town was planted by Canadians from the same town I went to college in–another detail that clearly showed God’s faithfulness and pursuit of my heart even though I wasn’t pursuing him.
“Soon after, I got into a relationship that was not pleasing to the Lord. For about a year, I continued to keep my faith and the rest of my life separate. But conviction came over me. I kept feeling like the Lord was telling me, ‘You can’t do both. You can’t love me and live this way. What you’re doing is very destructive.’ I wanted my relationship to work so badly, but I could feel that it wasn’t right. The tension of going to church on Sundays and not honoring him the rest of my week kept growing.
“When I decided to move closer to Dallas, I knew I had to make the decision to break up with my boyfriend. I knew it was time. Our breakup was really hard. I found myself all alone without family or friends in a new city again. It was as if the Lord was telling me, ‘This time is going to be for just you and me.’
“I dove into spending so much time with the Lord and in his Word. I had so much free time, so all day, I would listen to sermons and read my Bible. That’s when I felt like a veil had been removed from my eyes. I realized what a real relationship with the Lord should look like. Like 2 Corinthians 3:16 says, ‘But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.’
“It was just so clear that even though I was in so much pain, God was bringing me out of it. He wanted a deeper relationship with me. I wanted to live my life serving him.
“Along with my newfound relationship with the Lord, I’d been attending Watermark and The Porch and getting more involved in the local church. I made lovely friends and also started serving with Watermark Health.
“Serving in this way has just been so good and encouraging. I get to speak to other people about my faith and, at the same time, remind myself of his goodness every day. I got to practice praying to the Lord out loud and for other people, which I’d never done before.
“I started serving at Watermark Health to serve other people with my gifts but it’s also turned into a place where I personally am encouraged every time. I do intake with the patients, take their vitals, and learn what they’re in the clinic for, but I also get to lean our conversations to the Lord. It was really scary at first to speak about my faith with patients at Watermark Health, but now it’s even easier to share my faith at my own job if an opportunity presents itself. It’s helped me bring my work, life, and faith together, centered around Christ. He is no longer separate from any aspect of my life.
“God has been so faithful in each period of my life, but I didn’t see it. Now, I know the Lord was seeking me the whole time.”