By Quincy Jensen 

God has always been my sustainer, even when I didn’t realize it. I had a strong relationship with God when I was young. I went to church  every Sunday at Hope Lutheran in Minneapolis and absolutely loved learning about historical events and how God worked through the Bible.  
My friendships with my peers meant the world to me. On top of all this, I was in musicals and show choirs in middle school up through my freshman year of high school.  

In June 2017, my family moved to Roseau, Minn., for my dad’s seminary internship. I was sad to leave my friends and my church. But God was calling our family.  

My parents wanted me to try out for football that fall. I was not fond of the idea. Nevertheless, my parents made me play. That’s when I realized that sometimes when people give you compliments in the locker room, they actually mean the opposite. I was bullied and hurt, and as the new kid, I hated everything. Additionally, my relationship with my sister, with whom I was so close, changed. It tore me down even more. Through all of our fights and arguments, I blamed her as if everything that was going on in my life was her fault, when it wasn’t.  

It was about that time when my voice started to change. Music had always been a huge part of my life, and singing was especially where I found my comfort. When my voice changed, so did my entire outlook on life. I was lost, broken, bullied, and felt helpless. I couldn’t see past the pain.  

I stopped doing my devotions, and my relationship with God started to fade. Going to church turned into a weekly Sunday activity rather than a growing relationship with Christ. I felt completely lost and alone, and I slowly slipped away into sin. It became a regular thing that I was blinded by. I found joy and peace through indulging in my selfish desires, and I forgot all about my life with God.  

Through all of this, God didn’t let go. One day, I decided to come to a morning prayer put on by my Christian friends at school. Going to that session opened my eyes, and I began to realize that I wanted God back in my life. I prayed daily that God would help me out of this situation. I was in so deep with my temptations to the point that I couldn’t get out of them alone. The best part was that God knew that all along. About a month later, my dad found images on my phone. My parents were completely shocked. I told them everything. God worked through my family to help me. I started going to a therapist with my dad so that he could help me break my temptation to sin.  

A while after this, my dad accepted a call to become the pastor in Milford, Ill. It took time for me to heal from the effects of my sins, which made it harder to go into a new school again with new people. But God knew that I would need help. He gave me my best friend, Hannah Boyer. God used Hannah to help me look to Him for strength. I had left Him, but He had never left my side.  

God was the one who restored my relationship with my sister, He is the one who led me to FLBC, and He was the one who made me realize that when you put your faith in things of this world like friends and singing, your world will fall. Put your faith in God, and He won’t fail you. Without God in my life, I don’t know where I would be right now, but what I do know is that with God I can have true joy. I know that He has delivered me from even the darkest place. Amen.  

Quincy Jensen [FLBC junior] is from Milford, Ill. 

Kinship is a magazine of the FLBCS. Stay up to date on the latest news, student stories, classroom highlights, and fun tidbits about life on the FLBC and FLS campus.

View the latest edition of Kinship here: Kinship Winter 2020 Edition