Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma, daughter.

Thanks for joining. It's a Tuesday, and I am in the podcast studio with our porch team resident, Grace Ball.

Hey, Emma. I'm grateful to be here. Glad to have you here on Porch Day, our young adults ministry at Watermark.

Grace, you have been serving faithfully on the porch team and your student in the Watermark Institute.

We've gotten a good amount of time to connect and hang out, but for those who don't know you,

tell us a little bit about who you are, how you came to know the Lord, and then fast

forward. What are you up to these days? Yeah. I grew up in a home where I got to hear about

Jesus, and I would say it was a Christian home where we went to church, but I didn't see a need

for it until about fifth grade. So entering into fifth grade, my mom was diagnosed with a really rare cancer.

And this was the first time that I understood my need for a savior, need for a God to come

alongside in the midst of suffering. And so someone had been faithful and shared the gospel with me

my seventh grade year. And that's when I really understood what Jesus had done and who he

was in my life. But my whole life up until college was still marked by sports and my identity

and everything except my faith. And so God saved me. My freshman year of college, I really understood

that I got to live a life fully devoted to him.

And that's when I really understood discipleship and that I got to be a part of his great commission for my life.

And God was really kind in the people and experiences he provided throughout college.

And through the midst of that, I really started to grow a heart for full-time ministry, which

is not anything I would have ever expected.

So you were playing collegiate tennis.

Yeah.

Yes.

...