I met Alitrise her Freshman year of high school. At the time I was serving as a volunteer under Brian Woolard, SFB youth pastor of 17 years. I knew very little of her story and had no idea how much of an encouragement she would be to me as I went from being a volunteer to being her youth pastor in the years to come. Her response to God's gentle call in the face of heartbreak and suffering will also be an encouragement to you! Part way through her senior year Alitrise shared her testimony with THRIVE, in her own words here is her story.
"My journey with Christ started when I was in middle school. My best friend and her family growing up have always been a part of the church congregation but to me church was like a foreign word. I never truly understood what church was or even who Jesus was. In middle school my best friend would always invite me to go to youth group with her at Salem first baptist but for years I always declined, my family was atheist and I at that time in my life didn't believe in a god. It got to a point where I was tired of her asking me so I agreed to go with her.
The environment I entered into at that church's youth group was extremely welcoming, I made friends easily, and the leaders there were people I wanted to look up to. Week after week I continued going. Fast forward to my freshman year of high school, I still actively attend youth group every week as well as church on Sundays, but one week in particular our youth pastor shared the gospel and I prayed with him. September 25th of 2018 I accepted Jesus Christ into my life as my lord and savior.
The bible says when you give your life to Christ it's like going from darkness to light, the old is gone and the new has come, my life has forever been changed since that day. My journey with Jesus has only strengthened and grown since. A big spiritual event that I will never forget was on July 25th of 2019 when I got baptized. That day changed my relationship with Jesus forever. It led me to be more persistent in my faith, through all the ups and downs that life brings, including this past summer. Every summer my youth group has their annual summer camp and this year I attended. One of the pastors from my church came to give us a sermon each night and he felt called to preach about rest. He made it very clear to us that God had put the topic of rest on his heart. So that entire week every time I prayed I thanked the lord for allowing us to have this week of rest, away from any issues that may be going on at home.
It truly was a week of rest for me, because within 48 hours of me coming home from camp my mother passed (Alitrise's father passed away from cancer just 6 months before this). God knew what he was doing, he knew I needed to be there, and he blessed me with that time to dig deeper into the bible and to dig deeper into my relationship with him. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “do not grieve for the joy of the lord is your strength”. I believe and live out that Jesus Christ is my lord and savior and because of that my faith today is as strong as it has ever been, I know god loves me and that I am made in his image, I know he works in amazing ways, and I know a purpose of mine is to share his love with others."