Jessica Burgett – Finding a New Home

Where My Story with Grace Began

The story of how I got to Grace is part of a love story between Jesus and me. When my Sunday school teacher said that to me, I was a 16-year-old girl who had left home due to traumatic circumstances and a toxic situation in mid-Missouri.

Although I was still living a lukewarm life, I had been taught to attend church, so I knew quite a lot about Jesus. But I didn’t know the depths and beauty of having a relationship with Him. During this time, I started to pursue that, and I wanted Him to be more to me than just someone I read about—more than the religion I’d learned about as a child. I wanted to do more than go to church; I wanted to learn how to become the church.

Over the next couple of years, God began to show Himself to me. My home life was still difficult, but it was where He taught me to pray. He comforted me and drew me to Himself. I began growing in my relationship with God, but I’d never dreamed of the bizarre idea of Christian college—especially a small one in the middle of a city I’d never visited or known anything about.

Choosing Faith Over Comfort

I’d always excelled in academics, and as a high school senior, I’d been accepted to more than 20 colleges, including my dream schools. Turning them down for a small Christian school I—nor any of my peers—knew about was inconceivable.

However, I reached a defining moment of my faith journey. I had decided I was no longer going to have one foot in the world and the other in faith. This didn’t necessarily mean I had to go to a Christian college, but I didn’t feel strong enough yet to go to a secular college. I was ready to have a firm walk with Christ as my Lord, and I wanted to limit my distractions while I was still a baby Christ follower. (Despite having believed in Him my whole life, I hadn’t followed Him. Those are two different things.)

Having my mind made up, I did a quick Google search of Christian colleges in my denomination. While Grace isn’t my denomination, it popped up on Google, and for some reason, I was drawn to it. Upon browsing its website and social media platforms from the Twin Cities of Minnesota where I was living, somehow I knew this place—ten hours away—was where I was supposed to go.

I prayed, applied, got accepted, received confirmation from the Lord, and with that, I came to Michigan for move-in day.

Becoming Who God Called Me to Be

I graduated in 2024, and I do not regret any of it. Grace was a safe haven for me in so many ways. I was surrounded by the most supportive staff and faculty during some personal challenges, and in my time there, they showed me that the experience of being a Grace student was about more than academia. It was about never having to walk through life alone, and about having a safe place to develop into the woman that God has called me to be.

Furthermore, I took classes that taught me how to better explore the Scriptures, which helped me in my passion to learn, apply, and teach them. Beyond the classroom, I heard, saw, or experienced something that pointed me to God every day.

Grace has made me a better person, and I will forever be thankful for the school I call home.

Read more stories like this in The Journey Magazine | Spring 2025 >