Junior Avoni Kelly became the first student speaker of the 2024–2025 school year. At chapel on September 5, Avoni shared the story of how she became a new person this summer, shifting her allegiance from the standards of the world to the graceful leadership of Jesus. Her courageous and tearful sharing will be a beacon of light for Judah students over the new year. Here is what Avoni said:
I was born into a broken family.
I would always see my parents fight. I would always see them arguing. I would always see them talking negatively to each other.
I was kind of born into a “Christian” home.
I was born into a family of people going to church, but then right after, they would go straight back to whatever they used to do. Me and my Dad and my Mom would all go to church, but we never actually had a relationship with God. We would pray over our food. We would pray for things we wanted. So that was fine, right?
No.
As I got older, I started to slip away from my church community. I started to not go to church anymore. Why? Because I would hear preachers talk, but honestly I couldn’t care less. I would sing, but my heart wasn’t there. I would pray, but only for things I wanted. I would talk to Jesus, but only when things got bad. I would tell God stupid things like, “If You do this, then my faith will increase. If You just do this one thing, I will follow You.” Let’s be honest. Did it happen?
No.
I didn’t know what having a relationship with God was. I would hear people say, “Just turn to Christ.” But in my head, I was like, “How?” They would say “repent” or “surrender it to God.” But I didn’t know how. How could I give God my worries and anxiety when those things had a stronghold on me?
*
October 13, 2023, which was a Friday.
I came home from a volleyball practice to see that my Dad had packed his stuff and just drove off. I was confused and angry. How could you just give up on your kids and not even say a word to them?
As soon as he left, I broke down in tears.
I was done. I was seriously done with getting hurt. Not even the week after my Dad left, I told God what I was going to do. Since He wanted to keep hurting me, I told God that I was going to do my own thing. If something went really bad, He could come back and help me and then just leave again so I could do my own thing.
It hurt me so bad when my Dad left. So I started living for the world. And to be honest, it’s fun at first. Gossiping is fun — until you see the effect it has on you and everyone else. Social media is fun — until you realize you can’t go a day without it. For me, living for the world was amazing at first.
But I couldn’t go a day without my phone. I couldn’t go a day without anxiety attacks. I couldn’t go a day without finding my self-worth in the world. Me living for the world cost me a lot of things. It cost me friendships. It cost me my self-identity. It cost me addictions. And one of those addictions was definitely my phone.
I remember thinking that my life was pointless.
I didn’t really have any friends anymore because of things I did and said. I did things that damaged relationships with people that I honestly feel terrible for, and I just felt empty inside. Looking back on my whole life one day, I told myself and I told God that I was done. I was over my life. I seriously didn’t want to see another day.
I just wanted my life to be over right then and there. I was done trying. I was having all these meltdowns and anxiety attacks, and I was just over my life.
The cool thing about God is when you finally say “God, I’m done,” that’s when He comes in and saves you. That’s what happened for me.
I remember that, after dropping to my knees and praying in tears to Him, I felt a sudden peace. I wasn’t anxious. I didn’t feel bitter. I didn’t have that constant worry. I remember being confused by the sudden peace, because I had spent all my life in fear, anxiety, bitterness, and confusion — and now it was just gone.
The rest of the summer was different. I was different.
I found myself reading my Bible. I found myself enjoying my hour devotions. I enjoyed meditating on God’s Word and seeing how God shows Himself through it and how He is using it now to show us how He can bring us through any and every situation.
I started in the Gospel of John. I used to think that when reading my Bible, I had to start in the book of Genesis. And I never made it past that book. But after I read John, I found myself reading Mathew, Mark, and then Luke. And then from there, I just kept on reading. I saw how graceful Jesus is. I was impressed with how Jesus made every single situation come back to Him.
As I kept on reading my Bible, I fell in love with Paul’s books: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The reason I loved reading Paul’s books was because Paul used to kill Christians. But God still used him for His glory. I used to not like reading my Bible. But now I was reading it every day. God used what I thought I could never do for His glory.
*
A while before this happened, my youth pastor and his wife had asked me to join their youth group. I told myself I would go. But it never happened. I would say I would go the next Sunday, and then the next Sunday, and then the next Sunday. Did it happen?
No.
Why? Because I had no self-discipline.
That’s when I came to the realization that I’ve never had self-discipline. Have you ever told yourself that the next day you would start eating healthy or go on a run, and then you never did? It’s because you and I have trouble with self-discipline.
I read a book over the summer, and it put it this way. Self-discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now. If that doesn’t make sense, I will put it this way. What you want now may be to go home and just take a nap. But what you want most may be to improve in your academics. We both know that if you go home and take a nap, you will never be where you want to be in your academics.
When I read that about self-discipline, I didn’t care. But then I was like, “Wait, this is so true.” So, one day over the summer, I decided to go with my youth group.
I decided to go outside of my comfort zone.
I met with my youth group, and God gave me this sudden peace in being with the people I was with. I was genuinely confused, because I had never felt that way with people — even with my friends — before.
That night, my youth pastor asked me if I wanted to continue to spend time with the group. It took me so long to respond, but I said yes.
Even after I said yes, I was honestly thinking about quitting just because we had to memorize scriptures and say them out loud in front of everyone. We also had one hour to do our own devotion in the Bible. At that time, I had never sat and read my Bible for an hour. I had never really stayed in God’s Word. On top of all that, he wanted us to read a book about praying!
In my head, I was thinking, “This guy is just asking me to quit!” I remember going home and telling my Mom about how I wanted to quit. She told me no. I said, “What do you mean, no?” She said, “You’ve already committed to this, so just push through.” I was so mad at her.
Until that anger turned into joy.
How? Because God was working behind the scenes.
God was trying to show me the whole time the people that I needed and to help me with a journey that was right in front of my face — my journey with Him. Of course, I ended up enjoying it.
Why? Because when something is truly sent from God, it will bring you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
That’s what God brought me.
That’s what He is bringing into my life right now.
*
Let’s be real. If it wasn’t for God allowing me to go through all the pain I’ve been through, I never would be where I’m at today — or up here right now.
But by grace, He saved me, and He is happy to call me His.
I don’t know about you, but at retreat, when we watched the movie Mully, I realized something about Mully’s testimony. His life started with him living for his own glory. Then hardship shifted him to living for God’s glory. That stuck out to me, because that’s how it was for me.
I was living for the world, for me. But with everything taken from me and all the pain I’ve been through, life has shifted to me living for God’s glory.
I remember the silent time at retreat, when we just prayed. I got overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. I knew then that God was calling me to be up here now!
I also remember us having small groups after we heard from Mr. Neethling. My small group felt the presence of God. We had conversations with one another during which we learned things that we never knew about each other. We confessed things with emotion. Overall, we were happy that God had called to us right where we were.
I remember back on July 25, I got the idea of speaking at chapel. I don’t do well speaking in front of people. I had thought the idea would go away, but it never did. I’m up here right now to be living proof of how God can call you to do things that you cannot do on your own willpower.
If God is calling you to do something, please do it.
Not for your own glory, but for His.
*
I would like to end like this. Being a follower of Christ is going to sometimes push you to be uncomfortable. Maybe it’s putting your hands up for worship or praying in public or me up here right now. Whatever it is, just know that it doesn’t have to start big.
I thought I would have to start big. But for me, it was simply putting my phone down and reading my Bible and putting a time limit on my phone.
Sometimes all the ups and downs with my Dad still hurt. But I remind myself that I serve a God who I get to call my Father. I serve a God who will leave the ninety-nine just to find the one — just to find me.
Living for Jesus is actually the best thing I’ve ever done. Looking back on my old self, I honestly don’t want to go back to it ever again.
I mean, I went from bitter to joyful. I went from anxious all the time to casting all my anxieties on Him. I went from opening Instagram to fill my heart to opening my Bible to fill my heart. I went from finding my identity and self-worth in others and the world to finding it in Jesus. I went from being a follower of the world to a follower of Jesus!
This has been a long journey for me and my Mom. But I’m so excited to see what God has planned for me and her. And I’m so happy that God has changed me and her.
As someone who used to be a follower of this world, I tell you, please live for God. It will be so worth it. If you don’t know how you live for God, talk to others around you to help you and to increase your faith. Or try joining your youth group. I realized that doing things on my own was way harder and way more stressful.
I highly encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and to give your whole life to Jesus if you haven’t already. Living for Jesus is amazing!
I would be lying if I told you that living for Jesus is always easy, because it’s not. But I can happily say that living for Jesus will improve your life and the lives of others around you, because I’ve seen it myself.
I would like to end with a verse that hopefully can help you as it helped me. The verse is Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Avoni was very nervous to share her story, but she bravely testified about her journey in Christ, and she, like all student speakers, knows that her story touched the hearts of friends, teachers, and everyone in between. She serves as an example as the first student speaker of the year, and we expect that many more of her fellow students will provide an equally meaningful impact and make us stronger.
—Michael Oshimokun, class of ’26