My biggest regret was quitting sports at the beginning of ninth grade, particularly volleyball. After I quit, I got so caught up in everything but school, I barely graduated and didn’t even get accepted into the college my friends were going to. Jesus wasn’t invited into my life for those four years, and I made wreck less decisions for a while. There were plenty of consequences that came with those decisions; however, I now look back and see so many pieces of evidence of His protection during that time, too, because He still loved me even when I chose the world over Him.
I’d been head over heels for a boy I met in seventh grade. Everything about him intrigued me; he was quiet, reserved, observant, and could ball out on the basketball court. He, too, became an idol for me and I didn’t know much of who I was when we spent time apart during a few years in high school. We dated from seventh grade through high school and once we hit high school, the boundary list got shorter and shorter. Upon graduating from high school, I immediately moved out of my childhood home and into an apartment with him. I remember my Mammy taking me out to Columbia State Community College to get signed up for fall classes and asking her if she thought it was a good idea to move in with him. She was very hesitant but didn’t blatantly say no; she just asked, “do you think it’s such a good idea before you get married?” I knew the answer to that but didn’t want to admit it, plus I had already made up my mind to move in with him and there was no changing my mind. I thought it was going to be great and that we’d basically be living as if we were married. But playing house before marriage was not what I thought it was going to be.
After one semester at CSCC, I applied to Lipscomb University, a Christian college in Nashville and cried on the floor of our living room apartment when I read my acceptance letter. I had worked my butt off to get my GPA up and had to write a letter explaining why I thought I should be accepted. My boyfriend and I were still not attending church, and I craved biblical awareness again. I knew that part of attending this school would require registering for bible classes and I was more than willing to do that. I yearned for God’s intervention but still wasn’t quite ready to give up the lifestyle I was living just yet.