Lydia Flora

August 15, 2024

Before I left my community, my life felt trapped, hopeless, and pointless, even though I had no fear of physical or sexual abuse. I eventually left because I found the truth of God in John 14:6. My church had taught that to get to heaven, one needed to join the church as it was considered "the true lineage." However, God showed me that legalism is wrong. Growing up, I was taught that God loved us, but I was also a little scared of Him, mainly because I wasn’t taught about grace correctly and was afraid of messing up. My journey toward salvation was influenced by some friends, and my mom, who was also seeing the truth. I had been questioning things for a while, and then God put a verse in my head, and it finally clicked. John 14:6 was the crucial verse that God showed me, giving me the assurance I needed to know that leaving my church was okay. Although I was baptized in my previous church, I was taught that in order to go to heaven, I had to join the church by proclaiming Jesus and getting baptized. Now, my goals for living for the Lord include having a close, personal relationship with Him, walking in God's confidence, doing what’s right before Him regardless of what others think, overcoming anxiety, trusting in His timing and ways, and showing His love to others.

What brought me to NB was finding the truth of Jesus and leaving my community. I hadn’t had the opportunity to figure out the direction for my life, and my parents, believing in my potential, wanted me to come to NB to gain experience in the world and get on my own two feet in the culture. After video chatting with Molly, I felt much better about it because you were normal people who love Jesus. I’ve been out of my community since the beginning of January, although I didn’t start dressing differently until later. I’ve been at NB since April, so just over two months. My goals in coming to NB were to find a place where I could be supported in my relationship with God, be with people from a similar background to support me in my journey, learn how to be part of the outside culture, and take baby steps like learning to drive, live by myself, and navigate who I am in this new culture. I haven’t gotten super far with these goals yet, but I’ve started the process and am trusting God with it, even though it can sometimes be frustrating how long it takes.

Living with the other girls has been an open experience for me. There have been challenges, but we've been able to go to God with them. Living with people with different personalities can be hard, but we feel like family because God brings us together. We all share the same mindset to follow God, so we can communicate and support each other, and I feel comfortable with them most of the time. After NB, I see myself being a lot more confident in who I am in Christ and who He made me to be. Although I’m not really sure yet what God has planned for my life, I would like to find a godly man to share my life with and glorify God with on the journey. Church can sometimes be triggering for me because of how things were in my community, making it hard to see things differently. However, I feel a lot more comfortable at church now because we’re actually praising God. My favorite memory from NB so far has been appreciating how real everyone is; they’re honestly just trying to figure life out, and there’s no petty atmosphere. If someone were considering coming to NB, I’d want them to know that it’s all about God here, and everyone wants to support you in that and help you be yourself in the Lord.

This letter has been published with permission from the owner.

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