Ishama

Growing up in a Christian household meant that I was expected to attend church

on Sundays, youth Bible studies on Wednesdays, and sing in the youth choir. At the time it felt like a monotonous religious routine. In hindsight, however, I realize many good seeds were planted in my heart and I am very grateful to my mother for encouraging me to participate in church. Because of this experience, I had concluded that God existed, and that was enough to motivate me to not be rebellious and try to read my Bible (keyword: try). One day during a Bible study I learned what it meant to be lukewarm and how God hated it. That was when I realized that being a “good girl”, or at the very least being better than most of my peers, was not cutting it with God. You had to be on fire for Him, but it just didn’t click for me how to do that. I even remember a point where every single night, fear would settle onto me before I closed my eyes to sleep. I knew that I wasn’t right with God and that if I didn’t wake up the next morning, things would not bode well for me. This fear lasted for about a year until my first semester at USF. That was when I met a campus minister, who shared her testimony with me and showed me clearly how I could be made right with God. This was when it clicked for me. My eyes were opened to the fact that I had nothing to do with my righteousness in the eyes of God and that His beloved Son had done all the work for me. All I had to do was accept that gift and choose daily to let His mighty Holy Spirit cause lasting change in me. That day I was encouraged to take a step toward God, and I chose to surrender my life to Christ. Since then, I have committed to receiving discipleship from Cornerstone, which has established a good foundation of Christ in my life.

Since that time, the Lord has been working in my life by giving me the grace to share His lovingkindness with other students through sharing the Gospel and Bible studies. I was also an officer in two Christian student organizations, Cornerstone Student Fellowship and Bulls4Life (a pro-life voice on campus). When I graduate in May, I am looking forward to staying in Tampa to start my career and be a part of the church family at Cornerstone!

-Ishama