Hey y’all! I’m Lauren Walker and Miss Abby so sweetly asked me to share my story with y’all. I met Abby while she lived in Knoxville, and I was blessed to be one of her small group leaders! I’m currently a 26 year old who is a wife, animal lover, and most importantly a Christ follower! I’ll admit, those are my top three joys in life! However, those haven’t always been my focus. To start my story, I grew up in a loving home but it wasn’t perfect. Unfortunately, my dad was an alcoholic. This was not ideal, obviously, and I thrived on leading my friends at school to believe that my family was perfect. My parents love me and I was raised in church, but I thought I would be judged for choices my dad made, and so I never even had friends over to my house. This spiraled into how I performed at school, which meant I wanted to maintain perfect grades to maintain that perfect image. In middle school, I had straight A’s. Fast forward to high school, I did not make perfect grades and this left me feeling as if I’d let myself down, my parents down, and my teachers down. I had all of these people’s expectations on my shoulders and I dropped the ball. I struggled to maintain As and Bs, and to keep up with what grades my friends were making in our Honors and AP courses. In addition, as I got older I was never the girl who had a boyfriend. My friends started “dating” in middle school and then more so in high school, but I never did. I thought something was wrong with me for not finding “the one” yet. I thought, if I didn’t find the right guy in high school, I’d never find him. Those three factors were unmet expectations in my life that I set for myself. While it isn’t unhealthy to set goals and have aspirations, but mine were all extreme expectations that weighed heavily on me and I couldn’t even enjoy my youth because I wanted everything to be PERFECT. However, Jesus FREED me from all of those sinful rules I made for my life. I set those standards, no one else did. That’s the beauty of being a Christian, the Lord breaks us from the bondages we put ourselves in! As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown so much in my faith, which reminds me to let go of these Earthly expectations that social media and society pressures us to conform to. I still have boundaries for myself and dreams and goals, but they aren’t the type that leads to obsession anymore. I still have to remind myself daily that the Lord is my guidance and I can’t rely on my own understanding. I can’t emphasize enough that the Lord’s plan for us is far better than any plan we can configure up for ourselves. (A bit of positivity that young Lauren didn’t know at the time but knows now: Your relationship with your Dad was healthy and you won’t be judged for choices your Dad made, and your Dad will be freed from his battle eventually but just continue to show him grace. You will get accepted into college with a 3.0 GPA and graduate from the University of Tennessee. Also, you might not’ve dated or kissed anyone until you were 21, but you’ll meet a Christian boy in a Bible study group, and y’all will get married four years later!) XOXO, Lauren 💖 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16,17,18
top of page
bottom of page