The Year Everything Changed

In 2009, I was 25 years old, and I gave it all up.

The lifestyle all my friends were living—the clubbing, the constant socializing, the nights out that led nowhere—it started to feel empty. I looked around at the life I was “supposed” to be living, and I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. My spirit was craving something real.

So I left.

I left Chicago, left the scene, and found myself living in a small, quiet part of Sonoma County, California. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t loud. It was isolated—just me, my little family, and silence.

I was working a corporate job managing at Western Dental, showing up every day with professionalism, discipline, and focus. But behind the scenes? I was searching. I was being undone in the best way.

God was pulling me apart to rebuild me.

“Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 6:17

That was me. I came out from the crowd. I gave up what the world said was fun, and I chose the narrow road—even before I had the words for it.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that season of isolation was the beginning of something holy. Jesus met me in that quiet space. Not through a church or a person—but through the weight of surrender. The breaking. The solitude. The longing.

I didn’t give my life to Jesus fully until I was 29.

But those years leading up to it? That was the setup. That was the calling out.

And when I said yes to Him, everything changed.

Today, I don’t live for applause. I don’t need the scene. I don’t need to prove anything. I live differently—because the Spirit of God lives in me.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

I’m not perfect. I’m just redeemed.

And now, I get messages from young Christian women—some who are where I used to be. Caught between wanting more and not knowing how to let go of the life that’s draining them. I get it. I lived it.

To you I say: don’t be afraid of isolation. It might be where God wants to whisper your name. Don’t be afraid to walk away from what no longer fills you. That’s when the real filling begins.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” – Matthew 5:6

If God could take a girl who used to live for the weekend—and turn her into a woman building something sacred, something purposeful, something eternal—He can do it for you too.

All I did was say yes.

And He did the rest.