Brenna Davis came to Christ as a strong, independent 18-year-old. She had a plan for her life. But she didn’t find true freedom in the Word until she let God take charge and trusted his plan. “I grew up in a secular home, an unbelieving home. Being independent and strong was prized … Coming to the Lord at 18, I didn’t understand submission and obedience,” Brenna said.
God reached Brenna through a high school friend who introduced her to church. The parents of that friend who offered a model for Christian living, and her Catholic Italian grandmother, who exemplified serving and walking with God. “They showed me what it was like to have a family that was serving the Lord. I gave myself to God and accepted Christ and never looked back.
I felt very close to him but I never gave myself over to him,” Brenna said. “I thought I was doing everything right. Going to church, serving, working, buying a condo. I was trying to select my spouse and select how I was going to present my life and what my life was going to mean. I never said ‘lead me, show me, let me follow you.’”
That moment didn’t come until more than a decade later after she had struggled for years with infertility, desperate to fulfill her plan for a family with her husband, Jim. “My dream was to have a Christian home to raise my family up in in. Since I came from divorced parents, I wanted to provide a stable home and God-loving home,” Brenna said. When her fertility doctor cautioned that he was about out of options for her, Brenna called a friend to share the crushing news.
“She said, ‘Can you just hand it over to God and jump off the cliff into his hands,’” Brenna recalls. “I spent some time reflecting and suddenly was filled with peace. I prayed, “Tell me what you want me to do. I give myself to you.’” Less than a year later, her daughter Caterina, now 4, was born. “That’s when I learned what it meant to give yourself to God,” Brenna said. “I have a lot more peace; I have a lot less anxiety; I have a lot less worry; I don’t feel that everything is on my shoulders. There’s just a lot more freedom. But I still struggle with submission … It’s not over. It’s a daily effort.”
By Dan Page, Volunteer Storyteller
