The main (and actual) reason why I started one was because I wanted to see how certain life decisions change me and the course of this change.
Here, lets put a little background on me (in case you don't know).
I am Michelle Gabrielle Kingsbury.
I was born in central Oregon, and have been all over Oregon.
I grew up with diagnosed childhood epilepsy, social disorder, auditory dyslexia. I got over the epilepsy at nine, dyslexia around twelve, and social disorder between fifteen and sixteen years of age. Obviously that changed me some.
My parents divorced, and my father remarried twice (the first remarriage was a disaster, the second one much better). My mother remarried my stepdad and had a kid. So far, including all the families, I have nine siblings. Only one is full blooded.
I went to a small town middle and high school, and I use to swim competitively, and went to state and everything. I can honestly say I was ripped... at that time.
My perspective in life changed when I went to college (and it tends to do that with a lot, it seems) and it's where I confirmed I wanted to be a musician, band director, and special education teacher.
For my testimony, I can probably do a quick bit of it. I grew up in an agnostic home, and I knew a God existed, but who? After my parent's divorce, I became angry. I hated God, the world and I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. After a few years of this hate, I decided to go to bible camp because people INSISTED I go. I agreed. I had gotten baptized when I was eleven, but it was people's approval, moreover, than God's. The last night at bible camp, I was pissed off, broken and in pain. I wanted it all to end. So I thought, "screw this, God. I'm done. I don't know what else to do, and I hate everything." So, he was my last hope. I walked up to the alter, my mind full of the same rage I carried around. The preacher was using a prop (a net), like the woman in the bible who had bled for years, as Jesus's cloak, and he said, "If you have hurts, pains, wounds, Jesus can help. If you need someone to be there, and you know he can redeem you, there is a savior. Touch this net, ask for his healing and surrender." It was all I could do. So I knelt and touched it and thought, "I want this, this healing. Please, don't leave me like this. I believe." You may believe me, you may not. My entire body felt as if it were growing hot, and my heart rate sped. I felt hands on my back and turned around. Let me tell you, I saw NO ONE behind me. I heard a whisper in my ear, saying, "I am here." I felt love and relief in my head, washed in the love. I broke down and lost it, surrendering. It was that night I became a believer and decided to follow Christ. That is my testimony. Only few know it.
Now, I am currently enrolled in George Fox, a music performance and education double major. I want to go to PSU, or some other school for a music and special education masters. I eventually want to get a doctorate in music (I'm not sure which branch).
That's me now. I might be different in three weeks, months, years, but I really don't know. It's why it's a journey.
