About Melissa

I am Melissa, the encourager of the group…”come on Ash and Nate, you have to find excitement in religion somewhere” is where I think this all started.
I was raised Southern Baptist where you wear the perfect dress, with the perfect shoes, the pretty bow in your hair and then head off to church where you act like everything in your life is….perfect! You go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, because of course if you don’t go three times a week, people might start to think something is wrong.
Growing up for me was all about image and you should believe “this” because you are a part of this family and you don’t have a choice…believe, act, pray, dress, talk, BE this person, “because I said so.” After a very rigid childhood of control and manipulation I finally felt freedom after high school when I got away from Nashville and experienced the joys of college…WAR EAGLE :) Not that I found God or religion in college, but I did find that I can be myself and be accepted for that. I believe this was a stepping stone for later in life to truly know what I believe.
This has sent me on a life long journey of “what do I believe?” Not because I was told to believe something, but because I wanted to discover it for myself. As previously stated, we all have different reasons for this “quest.” For me, I am very strong and confident in my relationship with Christ. This past year has been an especially quiet time for God and I to connect on a personal level that I always “heard” about but have never experienced. I now have a new appreciation for who God is in my life and the peace that I have experienced from trusting rather than trying to control.
I am super excited about this journey! With the strict religion that was forced on me growing up, I was never allowed to explore other religions. I am looking forward to see what others believe, why and how they worship. I have a respect for other religions that show great dedication and more of a servant’s heart than “Christians”. I think that they truly get the sprit of worship instead of using “God” as an excuse to judge. I know that Nate, Ashley and I can ask honest questions of one another that will really challenge what we think….Nathan has alrady pushed my buttons with the famous 2 year old child question "WHY" over and over.....I’m eager to see where we all stand at the end of this “Tour De Faith”