Allow me to share a little about myself, to give my words some context.
First and foremost, I am a firm believer in Jesus Christ who saved me and saved everyone else. My faith is the only thing constant in my life, and the Lord has been my rock more times than I can count. I owe it all to Him and I pray that my life glorifies Him. I grew up Catholic, and though I see problems in the Church, I find meaningful worship in the denomination. I respect the Church's tradition and universality.
I graduated in 2009 from a tiny high school in rural Michigan. Defying my community's norms, I currently attend Wheaton College, a small Christian university 40 minutes outside of Chicago. City life, even suburban as I am experiencing, is so incredibly different from the country. I value both experiences more than I can say.
I am studying music as a percussionist in Wheaton's Conservatory, and it's been an incredible journey. My major is music with elective studies in psychology, which means I complete the courses for a music major and also take 20-24 credits of psychology classes. I'm hoping to go to grad school for music therapy, unless God has a different plan for me.
When I was 17, I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, and my life turned upside down. An illness, a chronic disease, a disability, was something I had never foreseen in my future. The experience was difficult, especially in the beginning, but diabetes has taught me a lot about being thankful for my own blessings and empathetic toward those who aren't so fortunate. After all, though diabetes is always with me and always present in the back of my mind, it's not killing me. I can and do treat it and live almost a normal life. And I will never let it stop me from doing the things I want to and living my life the way God calls me.
