​”You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” — Jeremiah 29:13

​HEAD KNOWLEDGE VS. HEART RELATIONSHIP: IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO GROW

​Fresh out of high school, many years ago, I moved to Texas. Before long, I found myself enrolled in college. I didn’t really want to be there; I was just trying to please my father. When one of my professors asked me why I was attending, I told him the honest truth. Shortly after, I withdrew. My heart simply wasn’t in it.

​Over the years, I tried going back multiple times, attempting to balance night classes against a full-time job as a single mother of two. As you can imagine, that didn’t always work out.

​Fast forward to my youngest daughter’s high school years. I decided to try one more time. As she started her freshman year of high school, her mother started her freshman year of college. We tackled our studies together, and around the time she graduated high school, I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

​Positioned for career advancement, I decided to pursue my Master’s to separate myself from the competition in the workplace. Almost immediately, I felt completely overwhelmed. I came close to dropping out again, but a conversation with a professor changed everything. She noticed I was looking at the entire syllabus at once and letting the sheer weight of it crush me. She helped me to break it down and visualize it in smaller pieces to make it appear more doable. Her advice worked. Two years later, I earned my MBA.

​When a management opportunity finally arose, it required moving my family. I chose not to make that sacrifice, turned down the offer, and never formally “used” my MBA in the corporate world. But I had the sense of accomplishment, and that was enough for me.

​At the time, it felt like a degree left on a shelf. But looking back, I realize God never wastes a season. Those years were secretly laying a foundation for a completely different kind of growth.

​Because I attended a Christian college, my coursework included biblical assignments. One paper required writing on Nehemiah. Even though I had been saved at 28, I didn’t truly know my Bible back then. Honestly, I didn’t even know there was a book called “Nehemiah,” let alone who he was.

​Over those six years of study, I read stack upon stack of books and learned a lot about Christ. I felt drawn to Him, and I went to church. But learning about Christ through textbooks and required side reading wasn’t the same as having a real relationship with Him. Head knowledge isn’t spiritual intimacy.

​It wasn’t until a few years ago that true spiritual growth finally took root.

​When Kevin had his cardiac arrest, he was in the hospital for two weeks. In those long, quiet days and nights sitting by his bed, surrounded by the soft beeps and humming of the machines, I poured my heart into my journal. In that quiet room, stripped of all distractions, the shift began. That was where I stopped just knowing ABOUT Christ and truly began getting to know Him.

​Today, opening my Bible isn’t an assignment or an item to check off a list—it’s a quiet conversation and something I look forward to. Over the years, I had bouts of reading and thought I had a relationship, but nothing like what I experience now. I am in His Word every single day, and it has become a living comfort, familiar to me in ways I never thought possible. All those years, I knew WHO He was, but I didn’t KNOW Him.

​If my journey has taught me anything, it’s that it is never too late. It’s never too late to learn, never too late to grow, and never too late to move from merely learning about Him to truly knowing Him.