(All stories approved by their subjects.)

Remember that very attractive mean girl from High School that everyone loved to hate. Oh, come on now, you know the one you were intimidated by but thought it might be nice to be. She appeared so confident and had everything one could wish for. She had a nice car, lived in a big house, and hung out with all of the right people. If all of that were not enough she was a starter on the basketball team. From the outside it all looked perfect, that was my friend Katie.

The first time I met Katie there were two things that seemed obvious; She was beautiful. She was projecting an image. Behind the gorgeous smile was something else, she was hiding some deep seeded insecurity.

At a young age of 10, Katie watched her mother suffer through two brain aneurysms, leaving her physically changed and spiritually mad at God. Katie was confused and incredibly sad. She sat at the dinner table and watched her mother and father argue back and forth before she finally heard her father say “I want a divorce.” Katie was left to raise her younger brother and try to figure out who she was at such a young age. She played sports to try and earn her father’s approval. After her basketball games other parents would come up and praise her only to be left disappointed after the reaction of her father. Comments such as, “You could have done that better, or you shouldn’t have missed that shot.” She felt as if she had failed and never felt good enough. She felt every relationship she had was performance based and believed she would never do or be good enough.

In order to find love and security Katie turned to boys. When you feel worthless you will allow yourself to be treated in ways that no one should be treated. Katie remembers walking by tables in her high school cafeteria where boys would be sitting together talking about how good she was in bed the night before. She became so dependent upon men to find her value. To make it worse when you are known for attracting the attention of boys it makes it difficult to forge good relationships with the girls. In fact, you build a reputation that some women never live down. Katie was confused, lonely, and hurt…she thought she was destined to live happily never after!

I couldn’t be more happy that is not the end of Katie’s story. If that is where the story left off my wife would not have her best friend and I would not know the Katie I have grown so proud of! Although it did not happen over night Katie gave her life to God. It was a looooong hard road with a few U-turns but that Katie is but a distant memory. Katie found the love of God and his people. For the first time she found relationships with girls who would not gossip and mistreat her. She found that she can have healthy relationships with men, in fact she has since found the man, the love of her life. Katie & Ryan are married and have a beautiful baby girl Harper!

Katie has taken what God has blessed her with and is giving back. She is one of our small group leaders in our Campus Ministry. Katie shares her past and all of her hurts with anyone it could help. She pours her time and energy into something that matters! I know that God is looking down and is a proud father. She is a beautiful, talented, and spiritual woman of God.

(RYAN: You are not off the hook. Your story is coming! HA!)