Testimonials

For a long time, I didn’t believe God loved me. That goes back to my own dad. He left my mom when I was five and then struggled to be the father he was called to be. I saw God as a reflection of him and was angry at God for letting my dad fail me.

When I was 10, that started to change. I attended a retreat and had this overwhelming experience of God’s fatherly love. Four years later, at my first Steubenville Conference, I had a similar experience. By my junior year, I knew I wanted to go to Franciscan. I felt like God wanted to do something great in my heart there. But I didn’t know how that would be possible. My mom worked three jobs to put my siblings and me through Catholic high school. I was on my own for college and couldn’t afford even a semester at Franciscan.

But I still applied, and I got accepted. That’s when I started praying. Every night, I would get down on my knees and beg, “Lord, if there’s a way, get me to Franciscan University.”

I kept that up all winter, until one day, my admissions counselor called. Without telling me, she had submitted my application for the Spirit of St. Francis Award, a four-year, full-tuition scholarship. I got it. I was going to Franciscan.

Looking back, I see God proving himself to me through that scholarship, proving his fidelity, his love, his fatherhood.

Now as a student, I’m growing closer to him, and hoping to use everything I’m learning to lead others to him. That’s what I want to do after graduation: work with inner-city teens in my hometown and help them see that their heavenly Father loves them, cares for them and will provide for them, like he did for me.