There are some people that just know that cookies were made to be eaten in their dough form. People who appreciate the talents of Frank Sinatra SO MUCH that they decide they’ll name their future children after him. People who love teal, and prove it by thumb tacking a teal sheet on the roof of the inside of their car. Sheana is one of those people. She just gets it.
Sheana and I met a few years ago. I knew her through a mutual friend and each time we saw eachother, I was greeted with the same olive skinned smile. Oh, that smile! Sheana has this incredible way of including everyone in her “circle” she always is the friend among strangers, and has this beautiful way of making everyone feel included in a group setting.
Sheana’s story is one that inspires because of the simple truth it holds. I’ll let her tell her tale 🙂
“Growing up in a Christian home, a lot of people already assume that you’re a Christian. After a while I believed them. My dad and mom have been involved in Church my whole life. When I was 5 years old, my Dad me if I knew what it meant to be a Christian. I quoted back to him what I had learned in Sunday school and said I wanted to do it. He prayed with me and I repeated what he said and as soon as I was done, I felt no different than I had before.
After that I told everyone I was a Christian, I talked the talk, but I still didn’t have that feeling inside me that I was looking for. As I was growing up, I became more bible smart, I knew all about Jesus, and pretty soon everyone just assumed I was a Christian. When I was 14 years old, I attended a Youth Evangelism Conference with my church. I had been to various “Winterfest’s”, “YEC’s” , Mission Trips, but I just went to go and to socialize with my friends.
I remember clear as day, It was August 7th, 2008. I was sitting in the church the conference was being held at, I was wearing jeans and my YEC T shirt that we got for going, I was sitting next to my first “boyfriend”, haha, and I had my bible open to where the speaker was reading from. I was “hearing” what he was saying, but I wasn’t “listening” to what he meant. A few minutes went by and I remember this push I felt in my heart. I started listening. The speaker was telling a story and I quickly realized it was my story. It was about a girl that thought she knew Jesus, but she didn’t have that feeling inside, so she filled it with boys, drinking, drugs, anything just to find that feeling that she was missing.
The speaker then said, “Pray with me, everyone’s head bowed, everyone’s eyes closed, no one looking around”, then he asked this room full of hundreds of teenagers: “If you would like to know more about being a follower of Jesus, stand up now”. My knees started shaking, my hands started sweating, and something in my heart told me to stand up. I stood up, and in that moment I felt NO shame. I got up, I walked to the front just as he instructed me to, and prayed with an adult to receive Christ.
When I was done, I felt this overwhelming warmth go through my body, I got chill bumps from head to toe, and I knew from that day forward that I was going to dedicate my life to serving God and being a witness to his truth, because this was the best feeling in the world and I wanted everyone to experience it.”
I adore this girl 🙂
xoxo
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