From Struggling to Surrendered: Rhyan's Story
Hi—my name is Rhyan Vann, and this is my story.
I've gone to Chase Oaks my whole life, but once COVID started, me and my family stopped going. It put me in a very bad mental state, and I didn't know how to deal with it; I never talked to anyone or told anyone. So I kept it to myself, and that hurt me even more.
I remember one day in 7th grade, I saw a post about LiFT and I did some research on it. I told my family I wanted to go, and they always asked why, but I never told them. I wasn't going very consistently but I tried to go as much as I could. I ended up meeting some really good people who soon became some of my closest friends in Christ. I loved learning about God and how he always knew I was going to get better and be fine. I learned how to deal with what was going on in my life, and I pushed though it—praying every night and reading my Bible.
I really started to feel God’s presence and I decided I wanted to go to camp for the first time. So this year I got a chance to go to Camp Glorietta.
During camp I had one of my biggest God sightings, and it made me realize that I was ready to finally, fully surrender my life to God. I remember the night service; I remember sitting there. The pastor was just talking about surrendering your life to God…you don't have your whole life to do that, you just have to full-on dive in. That was my final step. That was the only thing that I felt like I haven't done: to fully give myself to God. I don't remember thinking about it, but I remember just getting up and walking to the stage, and just saying, “I'm surrendering myself.”
When I came back from camp, I told my family all I learned and how I wanted to go to morning services. I wanted them to start going back to church again too, because they weren’t going to church. They were just watching on the TV, and they weren't fully engaged in what they were talking about. And I just felt like they needed to be connected how I was.
I asked every Saturday until one Sunday morning when I asked my mom, she said she would go with me. Once my mom sat down and realized, “This is what Rhyan wants to do; this is something she's passionate about,” she made it one of her missions that we have to go to church every week.
So it started off with just me for these past two to three years, and that morning that she said she would go, my grandma wanted to tag along. She was like, "Oh, I think I'll come too." And my cousin was like, "Well, if everyone's going, I want to go too. I don't want to be here by myself." So we all ended up getting in the car and just going. And ever since that Sunday, we've been going every week.
I decided to get baptized because I felt like it was God's calling for me. But it's also in the Bible, that it's a step in your obedience. And that's why I've decided to take this step of faith and get baptized.
We've all been going consistently for a month now and we are all so much closer to God and each other. Every week a new family member joins us, and we soon hope to fill a whole row! Going back to church with my family has always been one of my biggest goals and now it's true! I want to continue to go deeper in my relationship with God and motivating my family to do the same.
Chase Oaks is committed to investing in the faith of the next generation. Find out more about LIFT, our students' ministry, here!