When you are at your lowest, God is right there with you.

When times get rough, I know that I have a loving God who has control.

I was blessed growing up. I had a supportive family who gave me the world. I went to private christian school and I asked God into my heart before I knew how to spell my own name. When it came time to get my license, I bought myself a mustang with my hard owned cash. And I loved it. Later that year I committed to attend East Carolina University and spent precious time with my family before I left to go to school four hours away. When I got to ECU, I made friends right away, joined sports teams, and focused on my schooling and everything was going perfectly. My first semester flew by. In the beginning of the spring semester I decided to apply to be an RA and got called back for both sets of interviews. A couple weeks later, I went to my interviews and did fantastic. A few friends and I decided to celebrate and go to waffle house. And that is where my story starts. In a fraction of a second, my world was turned upside down. I was t-boned on the driver side. I'll never forget that moment when I looked down at my lap and saw my driver side door sitting in it, the seat less than half its size. Glass and blood all over me and my body was smashed in half. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. I was in an incredible amount of pain and unable to move. Fast forward a bit... I was in the back of an ambulance and rushed to the hospital, thankfully the other friends in my car walked away with no marks except one who had a minor concussion. The next few months was the hardest times of my life. I broke my pelvis, and I was told I would need to be on crutches for the rest of the semester. I was distraught. That meant I had to drop out of my sports teams, quit skateboarding, and miss sporting events at the school. Little did I know at the time that it would also affect my class schedule and I would end up doing medical withdrawal from over half my classes. I was angry, confused, alone, and frustrated. And that is when God stepped in. He opened my eyes and showed me where his mercy was on me throughout my entire accident. I fell in tears when I realized how blinded I was and begged for his help. I realized that this was not something I could do alone. This is when I asked God into my heart, truly and fully and it wasn't like what I've read. I did not feel a weight lifted off me, but rather I felt at peace because I knew that I was not alone and that he had control over my situation. The next few months were filled with trials and I grew to understand Him more. I understood how amazing he really is. Summer came around I decided that I needed to transfer to UNCC and take summer classes at CPCC to try to catch back up. Still recovering from my accident months later, medical bills became over whelming. I became a headless goose running around and that is when God laid is foot down and said "Listen to me! I am in control. I will provide in times of need! Trust me." The next day a friend in my summer class walked up to me and said that she felt like God wanted her to pay for my next physical therapy appointment and gave me a hug. As you can assume I turned it down and demanded that she didn't have to pay, but she would not take no as an answer, so I let her pay. To this day, I am still recovering from my accident almost 6 months later and doing physical therapy. But I have learned that God is there and he is protecting you. You are never alone. It is in times of silent that he is testing you. You just have to open your heart and listen. With God's help you will get through it and he does things to restore you and give you hope and future. Not to harm you. It is so easy to look at your situation and see the bad, but that is not what God wants us to do. I had to lose everything before I turned to God and see his undying love for me. As I go through hard times now, I have learned to trust Him, and know that he has control over my situation. And the best thing, is I know that I have an amazing God watching over me and guiding me step by step, because I am never alone.

Isaiah 41:10- So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.