"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
The "old has gone and the new is here" resonates so deeply with my story. The life I was living before Christ compared to now is a completely different Rachel...
I grew up in a single parent home. My parents divorced a year after I was born. I spent most of the time with my mom, and went back and forth every other weekend with my dad. On the weekends with my mom we were in church. I was heavily involved in the youth program growing up because that's what you did in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, despite being in church most weekends and going on mission trips, I never heard the Gospel. I was just doing good deeds with no good news attached to them. I knew who God was, I knew about Jesus, and had heard the stories of Jesus dying a brutal death and then being raised again. Despite all of this, I did not know Christ as my Savior. I did not know or understand that I needed a savior for all my sin. I think this is how a lot of people can feel, that they don't need something "greater than themself" to be "saved".
January 13, 2019, I woke up in the hospital after a snowboarding accident. I had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that caused bleeding in my frontal lobe. This injury seemed like the worst day of my life, but to God it was the start of bringing me home into His Kingdom. I gave myself a few weeks to recover, but eventually I started back to old habits of drinking and hanging out at the bar. I went back to Utah that summer to guide; I had a lot of flashbacks and nightmares of the accident I had no memory of. My dreams replayed the horrible feelings from that day. That summer I went on a 14 day trip where we hunted and gathered all our food. If we didn't catch it or harvest it we didn't eat. I was starving, draining my body of all the fat my brain needed to heal... A few weeks back into the school semester I took another fall and landed on my head. This time I didn't recover so quickly... as I never healed properly from the first accident. I was sent home for the rest of the semester and attended PATE Rehab in Anna, TX; for people with brain injuries.
While at PATE I was able to have a team focused on my recovery, and they were certain I would make a full recovery! This is where I first got plugged into my now home church, Life Fellowship in McKinney, TX. I started serving in the coffee shop during Wednesday night youth. This gave me something to do and brought my brothers and I closer together as they would come to youth with me. We were all a bit nervous, but going together made it easier to walk through the doors together. Eventually we were known and loved by the people of the church. I graduated from PATE, fully recovered and returned to campus for a few weeks before COVID sent me back home. I graduated at home in May of 2020, and celebrated with a family mountain bike ride.
I was raised by an adventurous mother who started me on this journey of exploring various outdoor pursuits. After my mom's second divorce, we started to go on these awesome adventures; rafting the Grand Canyon, hiking in Southern Utah, and backpacking and climbing in Yosemite. After graduation I went out to work seasonal jobs in Yosemite and Utah. I landed a year round gig working wilderness therapy. This was the year that I really lost myself. I thought I had made it living out in the high desert working shift work and having huge chunks of time off to go climb and ski. This unfortunately was not the case. I felt so empty on the inside, just desperate and clinging on to whatever new job or trip I had to give me that boost of excitement I needed to make it a few more months (or even weeks). Eventually, I had hit rock bottom; I wasn't really sure what my next move was.... I reached out to a friend I had met while backpacking in California that worked for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). She was leading an Outdoor Adventure program in Yosemite. Housing and meals were provided and I was told there would be lots of backpacking and climbing. I was intrigued, as I wanted to return to the Yosemite area; a place where I had such fond memories with my family. I was late in the application process but by the grace of God I was accepted.
I honestly did not think I would make it to YWAM alive; I was convinced I would somehow die before arriving. I didn't feel worthy of being accepted as I did not have an active faith. Looking back I can clearly see that was not a feeling from God, it was the enemy trying to scare me from continuing my drive from Utah to California. I made it, and boy did I have a hardened heart....everyone was so nice and offered to help me carry things inside the house that slept 20 girls... I was so resistant to help and hugs (I was stiff and rude if I'm being honest). I was nice to the staff but I thought the other students were freaks... They were all young and loved Jesus and were so excited to meet me, a stranger... I felt out of place like I didn't belong. I contemplated leaving after day 1, then I told myself I'll just stay for the first 3 months, but no way I would travel to Asia with this group. Well sure enough at the end of the first week at YWAM, I met Jesus and was overcome by His Spirit. I was carrying a heavy burden, and I knew the Lord was asking me to trust Him and to surrender the outcome to Him no matter what. I did... and that's when the Lord started softening my heart rapidly. I began to open up to my roommates and to those in my group. I finally felt accepted. I shared everything and held nothing back, and they still said they loved me and that Jesus had already forgiven me, even though I had not forgiven myself. This was big. The day I went all in with Christ as my Savior was December of 2021 on the beach in Santa Monica, CA at a revival movement.
Nepal is where we ended up going and it was life changing. The Lord used me and the parts of my story He had redeemed to encourage others. While in Nepal it became clear to me that if I am going to do this whole Christian thing and be all in with God, I have to be all in! No way would I let Satan try to lure me back into my old life. The whole time I was in Nepal I had awful nightmares about returning back to my old self and how "fun" it was. It scared me that maybe once back in America I wouldn't stay strong in my faith with all the temptations and familiar faces. The morning of my 24th birthday I woke up in the foothills of the Himalayas after having a very clear dream that convicted me and called me to become sober from alcohol. Alcohol was the enemy's gateway to draw me back into my old ways. I woke up and celebrated with friends eating and drinking my favs, milk tea and samosas. I made a promise to myself and God that I was done drinking because I never want to be that vulnerable to the enemy again. To this day I am still sober, and it is a gift from God to be sober minded.
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 NIV
My Nepali Birthday Party before we got a move on. Lots of miles (maybe 20) that day before we reached our next location.
Today I am living in Waco, TX, a place the Lord clearly called me to after returning from Nepal. I found myself in graduate school and working in the Outdoor Adventure program at Baylor University. The Lord our Father is so good. He brought me here in June of 2022 and I met my now fiancé, Connor Bond, in July as we guided students for Baylor Line Camp in the Wilderness of New Mexico. I prayed many times in Nepal about my future, and was uncertain about marriage being apart of it. I knew the Lord was calling me to serve Him wherever he called me next. I felt moved that he wanted to provide me someone to do ministry with. God made it clear that person would be my future Husband, someone who would clearly see me as the new creation I am in Christ Jesus my Lord. Connor and I are committed to serving alongside one another to share what the Lord has done and will do in our lives and to give Him all The Glory. If you have read this far and stayed with me, I thank you! There is so much more to my story and how God continues to heal me and sanctify me as I draw closer to Him each day. I encourage you to leave your thoughts below or share your favorite place in creation to connect with our Creator.
The Boundary Waters