How a Relationship with Jesus Has Enriched My Life

by Jessica Kozlowski

“If you could relive any moment of your life, what would it be?”. This question has been posed to me at different random occasions (group ice breakers, idle conversation with friends) and my answer has always been the same. It would be the day that I first encountered Jesus. 

It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. My youth minister drove a van full of teenagers to a Steubenville Youth Conference. It was a weekend full of awesome speakers, music, and liturgies. And it stirred in me a deep restlessness and heartfelt questions – “Why do I believe in God? Is it only because I have been told He exists by other people? How do I know that they’re right? Who is Jesus really? How can these people talk as though they know Him?” Because at that point, for me, God was distant. I believed that Jesus certainly lived and died as a historical person, but that was thousands of years ago. He didn’t still work in the world. Miracles were a thing of the past. 

But in adoration that Saturday night, during a Eucharistic Procession, as the priest drew near to me with the Blessed Sacrament and these questions burned in my heart, Jesus came to me. I experienced His presence interiorly and also as a tangible, physical presence. Light flooded my soul and my mind. And I knew beyond doubt that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist; that He wasn’t far off but oh so close to me; that He was absolutely still at work in the world and that He wanted to be in a relationship with me. And not only did Jesus want a relationship with me, but the Holy Spirit, Who I suddenly became aware of as a divine Person, and the Father also wanted me to know them intimately.

My worldview was radically changed in these few brief moments of encounter with the love of our Triune God. I desired to live no longer for myself but for the Lord and to learn to listen for His voice and His movement in the power of the Holy Spirit. I knew I could do this by receiving the sacraments and reading Scripture and spending time in silence. I wanted also to share the good news! Jesus is alive! And He desires all people to know Him. I could not keep this to myself.

That initial encounter was 18 years ago. By no means has my pursuit of intimacy with Christ been perfect. I have had my fair share of setbacks and struggles to trust in His care. But the hope that was born in me as a 15 year old high school student remains a firm anchor for my soul and in all things – even when I fall into sin or have trouble surrendering to His will - it continues to draw me after Him, to be motivated by love for Him, and to share that love with those I encounter on a daily basis.