I am writing this column because I feel so strongly in my heart that there is a group of people out there today who need to know that it is okay to express their faith in God openly and freely.
There are people out there who love God, but have gotten it into their heads that they cannot express that love due to fear of offending someone else.
To this I say you are not alone in your faith. You are not alone in the situations where you questioned your own faith because someone told you that logic is the only God that reins.
I want to tell you that you are so loved and appreciated by so many and that lonely feeling you may have is a lie that you don’t have to choose to believe.
You are a powerful human being that has been wonderfully created. And in those times when you questioned yourself, when you messed up, when you felt like you just couldn’t go on anymore, know that there has always been a person out there to help you move from glory, to glory, to glory.
Now, let me give you an example of faith unshaken by this world.
When I was a second semester freshman, I took a critical thinking philosophy class. One of the questions we were required to answer in our textbook was to identify the modus tollens of a phrase, which is the opposite of the stated phrase. What was the phrase you might ask?
“There is a God.”
In order to get the question correct I would need to write, “There is no God,” so I did. Only, I didn’t leave it just at that. I added a footnote that read “*Note, the student does not agree with this statement.”
It is safe to say that the professor was not very pleased that I did that because a very bold statement was made to the entire class about how the assignment wasn’t supposed to be personal.
To me, it was personal. Isn’t life a personal event?
You see, God saved my life. I don’t say that in a cliché type of way; I mean it. I used to be at a point in my life where I didn’t think I had a purpose; I didn’t think there was going to be a life to live a lot of the times.
So, to write “There is no God” just to get an answer correct for some general education class, to me, was like slapping Him in the face for all that He’s done for me.
My relationship with Jesus was not worth just leaving it at “There is no God” because I know there is. He’s my father, and I love Him. My faith in Him will never be shaken, especially not from where He pulled me from.
Maybe you’ve faced a similar situation. Perhaps you have been conflicted over what someone has told you or asked you to do in college. Whatever the case may be, know that there is indeed a body of believers here at Stan State, who loves The Lord and His word.
Estefani Hernandez Barrera (senior, Child Development) used to sing in her Catholic Church choir and regularly go on church retreats. However, she had fallen into that religious mentality that many believers in Christ, myself included, know all too well.
She felt that she could not express her faith to others, or ask them about theirs for that matter, without offending someone.
It wasn’t until last semester that she encountered two other girls, of Christian denomination, in a child development class that she realized there were other believers at Stan State.
 “Every time I would go into that class I would think, ‘We’re the same. We all believe in God,’” Barrera said.
She went on to say that often during difficult assignments the three of them would turn to each other for wisdom. According to Barrera, one of her Christian friends suggested praying.
“So whenever she started saying that, I was like, ‘Okay then, yes, let’s pray.’ And then the other girl would say, ‘Yeah, God is good,’” Barrera said.
The three of them became so comfortable in their faith with one another that they would even hold hands in class before beginning an important exam, and they would pray together.
Diversity at Stan State can reinforce our faith in The Lord by being next to other believers. Our faith in God can be something that ultimately brings us together instead of dividing us if we allow ourselves to freely express our love for God with others.
I have seen and experienced incredible things in my life, and I have witnessed the overcoming of trials from people who stood by God, as Barrera and I did, because we refused to let our faith in Him be shaken.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133:1).