Humans of North Harbor - Julie Plummer
[For an introduction the Humans of North Harbor Project, please start with this post HERE. Thanks!]
I Surrender
Julie was raised in North Harbor. She was one of the first kids to grow up in our young church and go through the Kids’ Cove program. She has such gratitude towards those in our church who taught her and showed her what it looked like to know and love God, not the least of which her own devoted mother, Kim Plummer, who was instrumental in the formation of her faith. She became a Christian at a young age and never doubted her faith. She describes her child faith as believing a story, but her faith has become so much more real to her after experiencing struggles in her life.
In high school she was very involved in sports, made good grades and had good friends. But then, her sophomore year she sustained a serious concussion. Healing through that was really hard, and she felt like her life had been taken away from her. She pushed to get her life back, then she sustained another concussion the next year. It was devastating. As she lay in the dark of her house trying to heal her body, God was in the process of healing her whole self. She felt like everything she had had been taken away from her. Her sports, her friends, her academics all felt lost in the pain and the darkness. She finally cried out to God as she gave up, feeling like she just couldn’t do it all anymore. And she heard what God needed the quiet to say to her, “Julie, don’t you get it, you don’t need to be strong enough. I am made strong where you are weak.” In the hard, dark, quiet place she learned that she is not giving up when she surrenders, she is surrendering to the God who made her weak because he is strong. She feels that there was purpose in these concussions and that “Everything was taken away to show me that He is the only thing I need.” In her surrender to God, she found her strength in Him.
She slowly healed from her concussions and regained her life with her friends and academics and sports, but with her worth no longer found in those things and in God instead. She finds that these things of her life now hold a greater purpose when she is no longer defined by them, but doing them for God. Where she would once have described herself as quiet and shy, she has now found a confidence rooted in God’s view of her and is able to speak up about her faith and be love to those around her. She is able to form deeper, more meaningful relationships. During her senior year of high school she was a small group leader to our fourth and fifth grade girls in Kids’ Cove and passed on her love and experiences with God just as had been done for her. She is now in her freshman year of college and has participated in mission trips through Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. She has had very exciting experiences helping to lead friends to Christ. She doesn’t believe any of this would have been possible if she had not had learned to surrender herself to God and found her worth in him. North Harbor will always be a special place to Julie as it is where so much of her spiritual journey was formed. She hopes that North Harbor can celebrate her journey with God along with so many others, and encourages us all to show God’s love and mercy to others.
Julie grew up in Richmond and has an older sister Jamie. She is a freshman at The University of New England studying neuroscience.
Here is her story:
“I wonder … what is the difference between giving up and surrendering to God?
I wonder … where is my worth and confidence found right now? Does it allow for expression of my faith to others?
I wonder … how am I helping to lead and grow the youth in our church?
I wonder … how does Julie’s story confirm/change/add to my view and feelings towards God?”
Written by: Elaine DeFreitas