Student Testimonies - Jaxon, Ross and Piper

Three of our students, Jaxon Wolford, Ross Gurley and Piper Rogers are real and vulnerable in this episode. They share about life before they met Jesus, how they met Him and what He is doing in their life now. They are a testament that God can use anyone at any age or stage of life.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Offscript, a conversation with no fakes, no filters, just real conversations about how faith and flesh meet in the everyday life, where we experience a God who made us on purpose for his purpose. This is offscript. Let's talk.

SPEAKER_05 0:20

Hey guys, welcome back to Offscript. This is a fun episode today because we're gonna actually have three of our students sharing their testimonies. And so we're gonna kind of do them all separately, but we're gonna start off with Jackson Walford. Jackson, welcome to the pod. This is when you speak to the Jackson is our first middle schooler, so we're gonna see what it's like to have a middle schooler on here. Okay, and you go to Evangel Christian School?

unknown 0:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 0:50

Awesome. Okay, so we're gonna kind of walk through your testimony, but we have a question for you first. What is something that nobody knows about you that you would actually like to share publicly?

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Probably out of the 24 hours of the day, I probably have my headphones on listening to music, about 16 of them. Is that good for you? I know it's not, but I Okay, here's the question though.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

What do you listen to?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

I listen to all types of music.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Well, yeah, but like if if you were to turn your like if you were to get in your car right now and like, or I guess not in your car because you can't drive yet, but like what is the first thing you're playing on your phone?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Probably 90s rock.

SPEAKER_05 1:33

90s rock. Do you like a podcast? Do you listen to podcasts?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Sometimes. It just kind of depends.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

Listen, do you listen to ours?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

I don't have Spotify.

SPEAKER_05 1:45

Guys, so we've got a student on here who doesn't even listen to the podcast. I'm just kidding. That's funny. Karen, what about you? What's something nobody knows about?

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Holy crap.

SPEAKER_05 1:55

Um mine's not, I mean, I feel like I'm an open book. I just put you on the spot. Mine would be like, I'm a big indie car racing fan. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. My dad and I go to the Indy 500 every year. We leave in a few weeks.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Yeah, I don't I don't know if I I don't know if I'm to be honest. I feel like I have another book. I don't have anything.

SPEAKER_05 2:20

Okay. Okay. Well, Jackson, we'll go ahead and jump in. But just kind of tell us a little bit about maybe kind of where you were before you met the Lord, how you met the Lord, and maybe what life has looked like since then. There's anybody that was influential in your life during that time. You just kind of take it away, okay?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Well, it's kind of an interesting story because um when I was eight years old, that's when I decided to let the Lord into my life. I was really young at the time, obviously eight, but I just remember it just kind of happening. And I my life was pretty normal. You know, this is when I was still in um public school. My life was just as normal as it could get. Nothing really special about me. Until I'd say around fifth grade is when I decided to go homeschooled because my brother was already doing that, and I decided to do it. A few years go by, and I'd say around maybe December of 2024, I kind of just stopped believing in God. I I guess you could say I was kind of gone by my own rules. And I was just like, it's just too much to like the Bible's just too much to like do. I have to obey all these kind of rules, I guess. And I thought of it more as just like I mean, why do I have to listen to this? Like, I can just do whatever I want. And I just pushed them off to the side. People saw me and they knew I was a Christian because I was baptized. And you know, I was a nice person, it wasn't like I was horrible. But people would ask me, I was like, Are you a Christian? and I'd just say yes, but on the inside I really wasn't. I thought of myself as not really a Christian. And I guess that made it more confusing on one day, not too long ago, a few months ago, is when the Lord came back to me and he told and it was just like he wanted me to do ministry. And I was like, why me? Because I haven't really paid attention to you and eat fruit for like years, or for like a year. I haven't prayed in probably a year, haven't really connected with you in a year, and yet you still choose me to do this. And my relationship with the Lord was kind of rekindled. I started reading my Bible a few months ago. I decid I decided I was like, if I'm gonna do this, I talked to Caleb about all this, and he walked me through the ministry and all that, and I wrote my first sermon and I gave it to him, and I just started reading my Bible more, started doing all this more, but the biggest roadblock was lust. I kind of had all that problems with lust and all that, probably around 2024, and it just never kind of went away because like I said, at that time I was doing whatever I wanted to, with like no remorse of my actions, and it never really changed until the Lord came back to me, and then I realized this is wrong, I shouldn't, you know, be doing the things I'm doing, and I need to change, and I need to put my foot down and change for God because God does not want me to do this. And I've read the Bible more and it's just it's still kind of confusing to me because I still feel like I don't understand much because I feel like I'm still learning on how to be a good follower of Christ. I still don't know much about God and all that. I'm still trying to learn as the days go on, and I pray to God that he just helps me stay focused on the task and what he wants me to do. Because he wants I feel like he call he called me to ministry. That's something I never thought I would ever do. I always thought I'd be a coach in like college basketball. That's what I always thought I would be. But God was like, I'm just gonna because God does this all the time. I'm gonna He says, I'm just gonna steer you into a different direction, something you never thought was gonna happen. And I want you to do that. And it's kind of crazy how it all happened. But I feel like I'm still struggling with my faith, still trying to stay strong with it and quit my old ways that I was before. Because I wasn't really a great person on the inside. I may have looked fine on the outside, I may have been a good person, but on the inside I felt like I was just missing something, and I filled that with temptations and all that, because I thought it would help. And it did, but just for a short amount of time, and then I'd just like, oh, why'd I do that? But I'd keep doing it because I didn't care. I thought it would help me, but it never did, and I was missing something that could truly satisfy me, and what that was was God's love. And it just lust was kind of gone once I finally again found that love of God. Because it satisfied me. I was like, I don't need anything else really. I don't need to worry about you know, what the world thinks of me, you know, or I guess what I think of me. I just need I just worry about does God like what I'm doing currently? Is he pleased with how I'm doing this or that? Because I just I feel like I've always struggled with like getting people's approval, but all I really need is God's approval. And or just got because God loves me no matter what I do. He may not you know, with lust, he may not like that I was doing that. But he still loved me even though that was happening. And that's what just confused me was why does he still love me even though I'm doing something that's wrong?

SPEAKER_05 8:57

I feel like that's really real first. I feel like a lot of you are gonna be able to relate to the part that you said about like you're still struggling, because I think that is just so real. I mean, who was someone you feel like was the most influential during all of that, or just like coming to know Christ?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

I'd say probably Caleb, because on Wednesdays I'd go to church and I'd hear him preach, and just listening to him, like even when I wasn't following God at that time, I still went to church on Wednesdays, and when I listened to him, I was just like, that's pretty good. But once I came back to the Lord and I started hearing Caleb, it's like that was pretty good. It was and I thought that was good in a different way, like it became good in a different way.

SPEAKER_05 9:50

It was real, yes, it became life to you, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

And then I started talking to Caleb. I started talking to him last speech week and about my lust and all that, and this is when I kind of I guess slowly started to come back to God in a way, and he was just talking to me about it and it was just really, I guess, encouraging, but he was also telling me about just God and who he is and how great he is, like his love is unconditional. There's nothing better than the love of God, and that if you love God and you just follow him all the days of your life, there's you're gonna have an eternal gift, and that's heaven. And heaven is something you cannot find on earth. That it heaven is a great gift. You know, it talks about that, I think, in Proverbs, some, and a verse that stood out to me was I believe it was James 1.12. It's blessed the man who remains steadfast under trial, for he has received a crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Because I look back on my own life and I was like, I went through some trials, and I'm still going through them, but I know that God loves me, and I fixed some of those things. There's still some things I got I know I have to fix, but I feel like I search for perfection all the time, but I can't be perfect. That's nothing I can't be. There's only one person who ever walked on the earth who was perfect, it was Jesus. I can't be perfect, but I search for perfection. And I know I can't get that. But I'm trying to make sure doing I'm separating the bad from the good. I'm making sure I do not walk in like the wicked path. I don't want to go down that road again, like I already had walked down before. I want to stay on the path that God wants me to go. I don't want to, I guess, leave him again because I haven't really felt like how I felt recently with me coming back to God and me kind of fine finding like satisfaction or whatever. I haven't felt that in a long time. Because I know that God loves me. Like it's just something about God. I still don't know how to describe things all that well. But there's just something about God that just hard to describe how great He is. And I'm still going through the motions of just trying to figure some things out, like, because I don't know everything all that well still. I'm still trying to learn on getting back on track. But it's crazy how I kinda dealt with lust at a young younger age, but God still wants me to be with him, even though I didn't want to be with him. Like that doesn't make sense to me. If I don't want to be with someone, why would they want to be with me? That and but God wanted to be with me. And it's just something I think about every day, is that just why me? Out of all the eight billion people, why me?

SPEAKER_05 13:28

Well, I think it's just a testimony. I mean, and thank you for sharing that. I think that's awesome. And just where you've been and where you are now, and and just being in eighth grade, you know, it just shows that God can truly use anybody. So thank you for sharing that. Hey Ross. Hey, how's it going? Okay, so we're back with Ross this time. Ross Gurley. Ross, tell everybody a little bit about you, grades, school.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

I am a junior in high school. I'm going into my senior year. I'm from Hoover, Alabama. I I used to live up here in Gardendale. I moved down here to sorry, so you live in Hoover? Yeah, I live in Hoover.

SPEAKER_05 14:06

I live in Hoover too.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05 14:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

But I used to live in Gardendale, but I moved to Hoover.

SPEAKER_05 14:11

When did you move?

unknown 14:11

Trader.

SPEAKER_05 14:12

Trader.

SPEAKER_04 14:14

Easy can.

SPEAKER_05 14:15

When did you move?

SPEAKER_04 14:16

We moved in 2021.

unknown 14:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

Awesome. So and play good golf for my high school team. What high school do you go to? Evangel. Okay. So it's a living a pretty good life right now.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Nice, nice. Okay, so uh same question that we asked Jackson. What is one thing that nobody knows about you?

SPEAKER_04 14:36

I'm actually a a uh skier, actually. I go to like Colorado and like Nevada and I go ski all over the place. I started doing that back in 23, I think. Cool. I am scared. I'm scared to go skiing. It's not that bad. It really isn't.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Is it is it harder to ski or snowboard? That I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 14:55

Do you need like coordination or just athleticism? Or neither?

SPEAKER_03 15:02

It's gotta kill your legs. You gotta have some. Oh, it kills your legs for sure.

SPEAKER_05 15:05

Because I I can work out, but if you threw me a football and asked me to catch it or throw it, ain't gonna happen. So I don't really have the coordination.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

I mean, it doesn't require a lot of athleticism. If you just have some good balance.

SPEAKER_05 15:20

I don't know, guys.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

If you have good balance, you you I think you'll be okay. You're just going downhill a little bit, you know? And you could just stop whenever you want to.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Yeah, I don't I don't know about that. But that's really cool. Yeah. Okay, so walk us through a little bit or just your testimony, maybe where you were before you met the Lord, how you met him, and where things are where things are now and what God's teaching you right now.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

I really didn't know. I knew what the Lord was around like five or six years old. I I go to like kids' ministry, all that stuff, but I never really knew who he actually was, like what kind of miracles he did. I just went to like kids' ministries and I was like, listen to the stories of like Jonah getting eaten, David David. Yeah. David, David and Goliath. I love those stories like that, but I never really like what's the meaning of this, you know. I really didn't it didn't really settle in. Most people really accept the Lord's life when they're like nine or eight years old. I didn't accept mine until I was like 13 or 14 years old. Because like I was way older within everybody else until I I accepted the Lord of my life. Because when I was younger, I barely trusted anything. I didn't trust the people the people around me sometimes. I thought they were like around my I thought that they were like behind my back saying stuff about me that I didn't know. So I was pretty selfish back then. So when I got to like 14 or 13 years old, the first Wednesday night service for like middle school or high school I went to was here and listening to Caleb speak, I'm like, maybe there's more to this than I thought it would be. So I'm I'm gonna set my I'm gonna set a challenge for myself. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna read the Bible twice a week. Twice a week, and see what happens at the at like the end of the month. I go to the end of the month and I'm like, whoa. I I've been living like my entire life. Reading, like, going through Psalms a bunch. That's that's my favorite book in the Bible. Going through there was like, man, there's so much that God has done. There's so many miracles that still aren't even like words described. Yeah, I it's hard to take in the one the one thing that really sticks out to me is like what God has like what kind of gift God's given to you. That's what I go by. Because God has had God has g given everyone a gift, doesn't matter if you trust him or not, he's given you a gift, and some people haven't really found that out yet. And myself, I'm like I'm kind of figuring it, figuring it out because the Lord has given me a gift of like caring for others. I always want people to like put a smile on their faces, talk to other people. So I live by that, and then there's a fear of me, like, are we the only Christians around here? I'm that's I'm so scared to like talk to uh other people about the Lord because I'm like they're thinking they think I'm gonna be weird talking about that. And then I was out in the public a couple days ago, and this guy walked up to me, he goes, Hey, are you saved? I'm like, sir. He goes, Are are are you saved? I'm like, Yes, sir, I am. Then then it's at least to like a 30-minute conversation because he was about to get baptized the next day and he needs some guidance. I'm like, and I'm like, and I sat down with him, I gave him a prayer, and like the Lord's gonna do some incredible things in your life, and you're gonna go through some rough times, and just you just gotta trust him. And they got baptized the next day, and it's just all from there. Cause and then that leads to my question, man, the we're not the only ones. We know there's other people out there. You cannot really be scared going to other people and talking about the Lord because you talk to one person, they'll go to their friends, they go to their family. Next thing you know, the entire world knows about them.

SPEAKER_05 19:33

Yeah. What do you feel like was the most influential thing coming to know the Lord? Was that hearing from somebody? Was it coming to church? Was it reading your Bible? Was it talking to other people? Was it who you spent your time with? What do you think was really like your turning point?

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Talking to other people, like in your small group, I think. Okay. Coming to Sunday, I got a fantastic group of guys that I talked to once on Sunday evening. Do our little service, we go in there. We have every single Sunday, I leave, I leave out of that room with something new.

SPEAKER_05 20:04

So community, you feel like was the biggest thing for you.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

The more people you talk to about the Lord, the the grower, the more growing you're gonna get. Because if you go out and you teach teach and talk about the Lord, not only are they gonna know stuff, not only they're not gonna know more stuff, you're going up stuff like you're done, you're knowing more.

SPEAKER_05 20:26

Right. Yeah. So Yeah, no, that's good. What do you feel like was the biggest obstacle you might have faced while you were just kind of growing in your faith? I think a lot of people would say something like, I just had trouble reading my Bible or never wanted to pray or didn't understand, or whatever that was. What do you feel like that was for you?

SPEAKER_04 20:45

There was a part of my life where I just didn't want to do anything.

SPEAKER_05 20:48

Yeah, like laziness, like laziness.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

I didn't want to go outside, I didn't want to play any sports, I didn't want to do anything. I just didn't want to do anything. I just want to just lay in my bed, look up, scroll my phone and all. And then I and then I was like, what then look and then the Lord came to me and and and then I was like, Ross, what are you doing? Why are you just laying here and not going outside and look and what like do and like why are you not going outside and doing what the Lord is sending you to do? I mean, He has a big creation and you're not and and you're just not going to do it. You gotta go out, you gotta be active, because if you're just gonna be lazy just in your house not doing anything, how how are you gonna like how are you gonna have a perfect life then? Because because none of us have a perfect life, no one does. Just you're not gonna have a good life if you're just lazy, like lazy like that. You you if you read your Bible at least once a day, you go outside, you go out in God's creation, and you try to Enjoy it. You try to enjoy what God has given you. That's what that that's what I wake up and experience every day.

SPEAKER_05 22:06

Is that what you like about skiing?

SPEAKER_04 22:08

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_05 22:10

That's funny. Do you feel like that's what God has restored the most in you? Is maybe that spirit of laziness? Because I think sometimes people think like, oh, I accept God and God's just gonna do all the work. Well, no, like if what's that verse of man makes his plans, but the Lord like establishes his steps? Is that the verse in Proverbs? And it's like we can make the plans and we can do the things, but the Lord's ultimately gonna establish like where it takes us. And I think sometimes people come from a place of laziness and then they think that God's just gonna do it for them. Well, no, we actually have to get up, make some plans, do something, and then he eventually will bless it and do something with it.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

So I think I think what you said, I think that can connect with a lot of people because I think a lot of the times we just see laziness as like a lay in your bed type thing. Yeah. But I think laziness is 100% also a heart posture.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Oh, absolutely. It's hard to get out of.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Yeah. Because when it comes to the point in your life where, you know, you're being lazy, because yes, lazy can be literally you want to lay in your bed and watch Netflix and scroll reels endlessly. But it can also be a thing where it's like you know what the Lord wants you to do. And you're just not gonna listen. And that can cause laziness as well.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

You that's why there's a reason there is a reason of why got God's giving you a gift, you're just not using it. You know he's got like he gave you a gift, you know you have it. You you're just not using it. I think is if everyone uses the gift that God is giving you, you will have a good life. If you if you won't have a good if you won't if you don't use that gift, where are you gonna go in life?

SPEAKER_03 23:41

So as for you, what do you think that is for you?

SPEAKER_04 23:44

My gift?

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Yeah. Like what do you think, like what do you think, what is one thing that that you feel that God is like saying, Hey Ross, I want you to do this.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

I I try to do that at least once a day. Try to talk to random people a day, caring for other people. That's like my motto. I love like caring for other people. I love I love putting putting smiles on people's faces. I think everybody should do more of that because people are really scared to like even talk to other people in public and like general. But if if you don't know how to talk to other people, bring up the Lord. Because if they don't know it, then they'll probably ask about it. If they do know it, you're probably gonna go on for a long time though talking about it because he's so great to talk about. He's a real he he's he's he's literally the he's he's literally the one who who made this all.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Like he's a big god.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:40

Why would you not want to talk about it?

SPEAKER_04 24:41

I know, right? Yeah. Like it's so cool to talk to. There's so many sections that you that there's so many sections you can talk about. You talk about books, you talk about characters or stories, you can talk about the Lord and it itself. And yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:54

That's awesome. Well, I feel like you are really good at just seeing purpose and all the things that you do. I feel like that's really important even in those in little moments and like mundane moments. So okay. Last question. If you found if someone was in this boat of laziness, what and you only had like a few, you're just riding on elevator with them. I don't know. You only had a few minutes to talk to them. What would you say to them? If they're like not talking, like what do you mean or if they're finding themselves like where you were in that season of just being really lazy?

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Like what encouragement?

SPEAKER_05 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

I I would give them a challenge. I would give them a challenge of okay, I'm gonna challenge I'll I'll I'm gonna give you a challenge of go outside at least what what twice a day. Do something active at least twice like twice a day, read your read your Bible once a day for a whole month. And they they do it. Now they're like, okay, I I like this. I'm gonna keep doing it more. And then I'm like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep doing it, I'm gonna keep doing it, I'm gonna keep doing it. Some stuff like them, some simple stuff like that. If you give someone like a hard challenge, they're it's just they're not gonna do it. It's too hard. Give people like simple challenges. Just read one verse a day, they like it. Go on to the next day, read two, go on the next day, read three. That's how my that's how my journey with the Lord is. I read one verse, I w I went on, read two verses the next day, and then I kept on, kept on. One day I read like 200 verses in like one day.

SPEAKER_05 26:21

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

Dragon.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

That's awesome. Okay. Well, thank you for sharing that, Ross. And I think a lot of people are gonna be inspired by just what you said and relate a lot to what you said. So thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Thank y'all.

SPEAKER_05 26:36

All right, we're back with Piper Rogers. She is our Miss GHS. She is going to you tell the room. I'm going to Sneed State Community College to play volleyball. Let's go on a scholarship, right? Yes, ma'am. That's awesome. So, how many more days till graduation? Oh, I haven't been counting. I guess from right now, when we're recording this. You have like three weeks.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Three weeks.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_05 27:05

I got a couple more days. Are you excited?

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:09

Yeah, ready. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Gotta prepare my speech. But you know you have to say a speech.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

A student body president.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Yeah, she's big time. Oh, I forgot you were student body president. She's a big time of high school.

SPEAKER_05 27:22

That's awesome. Okay, I'm gonna ask you the same question I've asked everybody else. What is something that nobody knows about you?

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Something somebody wouldn't know about me is I love event planning. So actually in high school, I took two of the classes just for you know, kicks and giggles or whatever. But I still do it. Like one of my favorite projects we had to do was like plan a wedding. And I really went all in and I started like emailing businesses. I remember this. Quotes and so and my teacher was like, it has to be like on the dot for like how much you would spend.

SPEAKER_05 27:54

So that's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

It's crazy. Do you think you'd want to do weddings one day? I asked my dad and he said no because I would make no money.

SPEAKER_05 28:02

So uh Hey, I don't know. People will pay whatever they want for a wedding, you know, especially if it's like their only daughter or something like that. Yeah. Why just wait? Your dad. He's gonna spend some money on a wedding one day. Oh, that's for sure. With me and Zoe. Oh, yeah. That's so funny. Okay, so walk us through just your testimony, maybe where you were before you met the Lord. I know you've grown up at church. Have you always grown up at this church?

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I have, I have. So yeah, when I was born, my parents were already going to this church.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

So and if y'all don't know, Draper is her dad, and he does our men's ministry, he does our IT, he's basically our boss at this point. Yeah, he does a lot. He does a lot, he is always on the move. So I I didn't know if you like had always grown up here or not.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah, I've actually always grown up here from the South Campus to the north. Like, I remember signing my name when we were building that kids' kingdom and stuff. Yep, me and Camden did that. Really always, I think, like grown up through you know, all the child care through the kids' kingdom and now in the youth. Yeah, now you're about to leave us.

SPEAKER_05 29:15

It's so sad. Yeah, it's so sad. Okay, so how old were you when you gave your life to the Lord? And what did that like kind of look like? Walk us through that.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Okay, okay. So I would guess like there's been two times. So like I was baptized at six, and I really meant it in my heart, but the true life-changing one was when I was 14 years old. It was the summer going from my eighth to my ninth grade year, and it was actually the week before Beach Week, which is it's a little different, it's a little strange.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

I wouldn't have guessed that, but you would think it would have happened at Beach Week. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Did you get baptized at Beach Week? I did not. I guess you had already been baptized.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Mm-hmm. I just it was a big thing for me to make a heart change, like me personally. Like I always see myself as like my biggest accountability because I'll always be like, you know, thinking about it and stuff. But I was like, I like Piper, you truly need to make a heart change. You know, it doesn't need always to be in front of people, but that over time they'll be like, something's different, something's changed, something's new about you. What what what changed? Like in general. So yeah. Okay. I guess like before I truly changed my life, I was really bitter. It was really hard to put on the face of that I love Jesus when I didn't have it in my heart. It's like it was just truly a problem I was realizing because my friends would come to me for advice, but I really had nothing to tell them because I really didn't have it in my heart. I really didn't spend that time with Christ, you know, alone to figure out these things to help my friends with, really. But after it just truly changed, like there was just such a joy and such a love to learn about Christ and to help my friends, you know, to encourage them. But I guess that's really the change that was visible. The bitterness.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

Yeah, I know Caleb always says bitterness will ruin your life. Absolutely. Um, what do you feel like was the hardest obstacle to kind of face as you because you know, a lot of times once you give your life to the Lord, the enemy, he is he's all in on you too. And so what do you feel like maybe was there any spiritual warfare, or where do you feel like you were facing the biggest obstacle?

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Absolutely. So that year after I gave my life to Christ, I would say was the most difficult year in my entire life. The first thing I knew that I needed to change was really what I did in my free time. Free time was really when sin really preyed on me. And the first thing I started doing was Bible studies all the time, like always me and my word. I brought it with me to school. I did it when I was at home. I did it instead of watching movies and YouTube videos and stuff. Another way he really, really got me was my mental health, I'd say. I got really, really lonely because the friends that I had at the time kind of changed when my heart changed happened. And it felt really isolating. And it was right around volleyball season.

SPEAKER_05 32:20

Well, that's such a hard age, too. I mean, you're going from you said eighth to ninth grade. That's a big change going from middle school to high school. And now you probably felt isolated from how everybody else feels or something like that. So keep going. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Yeah, I know, but it was at around volleyball, which volleyball gets really difficult, you know. It's just long. It's a long season of volleyball. It starts, you know, in June and goes to October. So it's a long time with the same people, but it really just it helped me like kind of get out my shell a little because when you have to make new friends, you know, you gotta get out your shell, gotta like start introducing yourself, which is really weird. Like as you get older, like to reintroduce yourself when you've grown up around the same people, you know?

SPEAKER_05 33:05

Yeah. Yeah. Who do you feel like was most influential for you during that time?

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Probably my dad. My dad was like my biggest influence. Because one thing, like a little bit about our family, my dad every single morning is in the word. Like he will just he'll just tell us about it. Not only that, but working out, he'll be like, Yeah, I got up at four, you know, had to go to the gym, listen to the Bible. And then, you know, I I got into the Bible. I got into the word, give me some coffee. Is that what he sounds like? Yes, and then he's like, and then I woke you up.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

It's like he's lived a whole life before he wakes you up.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

He do be in the he'd do be in 24E early though. I see him in there. Absolutely. He's in there early.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

He gives me a hard time for going at lunch. He's like, I don't know how you do that.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yeah, and he's like, Piper, you should do it one day. Like, no.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Can I ask you something though about that? Knowing knowing who Draper is and obviously the godly man that he is, and especially, of course, him being your father, was there like a almost like a pressure growing up to like through like from your Christianity? Like, was it a pressure? Like what what was that for you?

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Like Absolutely, like I believe my friends saw me more as like a little pastor, you know, like a little mentor, even when I didn't know the answers, you know what I mean? That it was always constantly like pressured on me to know more, to you know, be more like I guess helpful, you know, like they would come to me like I'm a pastor, like I like I have the answers to help them. And at the time I really didn't know who Christ was or who Christ was in my life.

SPEAKER_05 34:40

So Yeah, I feel like just working at a church. I feel like the people that I'm around that don't work at a church, sometimes it's like when you want to pour in, you want to like pour out the love of Christ or you want to just talk about him. It's like, oh, she just does that because she and that's probably the enemy too. She just works at a church, and you may have felt that way. Oh, she just says that because her dad's pastor or whatever. It's like, no, like I I know him and I've experienced him, and that's why I'm talking about him. It's not because of, I mean, maybe my environment has been helpful in that, but that's not that's just the enemy, I think. Also, yeah, yeah. Just trying to attack. So, okay, so where do you feel like God's teaching you now? Like you walked through giving your life truly a heart change to the Lord and a very difficult time. Eighth grade is for a girl, it's hard. Absolutely. And then high school is just hard as a girl. And but where do you feel like God is what God has really been teaching you, maybe just in this season of life, you or what is the biggest thing maybe during that time? What do you feel like he's teaching you?

SPEAKER_02 35:45

For right now, it's really been this really big quote for me. It's like, I think it's like no bit, no brittle, no bridle, whatever is in the horse's mouth. I was reading about it, I don't exactly know where, but it talks about how you know horses have to be, you know, guided along, really. And it's do you have to really like, are you really following the Lord if he's having to constantly pull you in the right direction, like pull you away from this sin? So it's really been like listening to the Lord on the first try. And there's been that's been so useful in my life, like trying to be student council president. I didn't want to do it, but the Lord was telling me that that may be something I want to try and to do it and to try and live it out. But to, you know, try out first need to go to that practice, to do those things, to really put myself out there, just to follow the Lord, you know, the first time he says it, not the second time around. Because I usually get lots and lots of guilt when he calls me to do something, but then I overthink it or I don't trust him and I miss up, I miss the moment, you know what I mean? But yeah, that's been my big thing currently.

SPEAKER_05 37:02

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I would just tell you, you're awesome. And I'm just really encouraged by you and just your spirit. I feel like anytime Piper comes around, it's just awesome. And we're gonna be able to do that. You've never seen her not smiling. I know, and I'm gonna miss if y'all didn't know Piper crochets. I think everybody knows that. And I was actually wondering the other day if you still did it, but that's so cool. I was telling somebody about you the other day, but anyway, I am just really thankful to know you, and you're gonna do awesome at Sneed. So thank you for sharing all of that.