Hey y'all, you're listening to the Join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma Daughter.

To learn more about today's reading or to read along with us, check out jointhejourney.com.

Thanks for joining. I am in the podcast studio with today's Devo writer, Mrs. Julie Martinez.

Hi, and thanks for having me. I'm so glad you're here. We just met today, right? We didn't know each other

before this. No, we did not. And that I would love for you just to share maybe a little bit of your

testimony. How'd you come to know the Lord? For sure, I'd love to. My parents were both new believers,

like when we were growing up. And so they didn't really have like a relationship with the Lord.

We were just going to church basically. So I grew up, you know, hearing stories from the Bible,

you know, knowing the story of what Jesus did for me. But I didn't really have like a good

understanding of what it looked like to have a relationship and what it really meant that Christ

died on the cross for me.

So I kind of felt forced like I was going to church, like forced going all the time.

So I kind of grew to resent that especially as it became like a teenager and like I just wanted to do my own thing.

And then when I went to college, I, you know, was able to do what I wanted to because my parents weren't always keeping an eye on me.

And so I got into like partying, had inappropriate relationships with men, and just constantly trying to find my worth in that.

And then it wasn't until 2011.

I had been with a guy that I had thought I was actually going to get married to.

And he broke up with me, and that just kind of, like, started, like, my path towards, like, the Lord.

And so it was after that breakup that I kind of just, like, started walking with the Lord

or just wanting to follow him more and, like, wanting to, like, pursue, like, my faith.

But even still, like, I had a lot of guilt and shame from my past in college.

And so I struggled with that for two years. It was 2011 when I started, like, actually

...