Finding Her Voice in God

Shalom Mejia didn’t want to walk away from her faith as many young adults do when they move away from home to attend college, so she chose Fresno Pacific University. “I didn’t want to say ‘bye-bye’ to God when I went off to school,” she says. “I always wanted to go to a Christian school.”

FPU has been a place that both deepened Shalom’s faith and pushed her out of her comfort zone. Very shy in high school, she was nervous when speaking in meetings and didn’t want to give public presentations. “I am a quiet person. I was uncomfortable for a while,” she says. But when Shalom was hired to be a student chaplain that quickly changed. She was required to attend weekly chaplain meetings, engage in conversations with students and occasionally speak in public.

When asked to present to the FPU Board of Trustees, Shalom says, “I did not want to do it. But I knew I had to.” She told the board how she had grown spiritually as a student and in her role as a chaplain. “I knew doing this would help me in the future. I ended up doing it and it was fun,” she says.

Another way Shalom deepened her faith was by co-leading a small group called “Deeper.” “We talked about the different ways we can hear God’s voice,” she says. She helped students discern God’s voice and explore the different ways in which he speaks, such as meditating on Scripture, discussing worship and sitting in silence for 15 minutes.

As a result of speaking as a chaplain at meetings and leading a small group she says, “Now I am not scared to say what I think or believe.”