Life is full of ups and downs. We are all on a journey, be it spiritual, physical, or mental. My journey was one of a spiritual nature. For most of my young life, my family was very religious. My parents were both churchgoers, and my grandparents on both sides were also involved in the church. I remember going to church with my family every week. I didn’t love it, but it was something we did.

As I got older, I started to question my faith and why I went to church. My parents got divorced, and my Mom stopped going altogether, and at the time, she had primary custody of my siblings and me, with us only going to church when we were with my Dad. As time went by, my faith slowly started to fade until it was gone.

Then I transferred to living primarily with my dad, and during that time, I went to church weekly. I hadn’t been to church in roughly six years. I did go with my Dad every other weekend, but I wasn’t really feeling it. During that time, one of my Dad’s friends asked me if I would like to join a local youth group, and I said no because I still did not believe it. But sometimes at night, there was a little nagging in the back of my mind. Maybe I should join the youth group. But then again, I didn’t want to be hypocritical.

That summer, my Dad suggested I go to Dunes Bible Camp. I had gone before when I was little, and I remembered it was fun. I figured, why not? While I was there, I took a class on the Bible. During that class, I learned more about the history of how old the bible is and how the current translations were 99.9 something percent accurate compared to the ones from thousands of years ago, and I figured if this book was wrong, it would have been proved wrong in the thousands of years it's been around. That same night, I decided to learn more about this bible thing. Then, in the fall of 2024, I chose to join the youth group my Dad’s friend told me about. At that youth group, I learned more and more about how much God loves all of us, and how real he is.

Now that I've been going for over a year, my faith is stronger than ever. I feel more solid about my beliefs, and even though I may go through ups and downs, I know that I will keep my faith. God isn’t just for the good times; he is with us at all times.

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