Kayleigh Hildebrand
My name is Kayleigh Hildebrand, I grew up in Dallas, PA. I accepted Christ at a really young age, but growing up, I was never sure I knew what it entirely meant. My parents, sister, and I attended a few different churches until we landed at a great church for my junior high years where I finally got a better idea of God's love for me. I got really involved in the youth group, joined the Bible quiz team and the youth group worship team, and became really passionate about my faith.
In 2007, we found out we would have to move that summer. It didn't really hit me how hard that would be until that day we moved into our new house. For the rest of that summer and most of my 9th grade year, I had a really tough time finding any type of peace about the move. I went into a bad depression and even had thoughts of suicide. I didn't feel like anyone paid attention to how much I was hurting until one day when I was talking to a friend about my struggles. He mentioned that he too had similar struggles of not feeling noticed. In talking with him over the next few days, we both felt the spirit pulling at our hearts. We felt like we should keep praying for each other and keep lifting each other up. We both made it over that tough bridge and kept moving forward. I started at a Christian school the next year for tenth grade and made more solid Christian friends.
Those next few years really helped pull me up from the hole I was in-especially my mid-senior year when I met my husband through the same friend that helped pull me out of my depression. We lived an hour's distance away from each other, but it didn't seem very far with the help of Skype and texts. He has always been a pretty strong Christian and I went to him for any problem I was having, and he always pointed me to Jesus. We talked every single day and got married in 2014, a year after a pretty famous proposal. I still didn't feel super confident with my faith, but I had really started to feel noticed by him and Jesus. I had someone who could point me to Jesus's love whenever I needed it.
We had our first baby a year and a half later and found our way to LEFC and fell in love with the atmosphere and the Kids' Ministry for our daughter. Soon after things got very tough for us. We found out we were pregnant with our first son, and we were told some very scary things about him-things that could be fatal, but thankfully after a lot of prayer and a second and third opinion, we fund out the first doctor gave us the wrong diagnosis. The right diagnosis came with multiple surgeries and specialist visits for both our kids, though, so the kids and I moved closer to the hospital in Philadelphia for a year. That was a really tough time for all of us, but my faith in the Lord remained strong, and that's when I knew I truly had the Holy Spirit with me. A year after all of that we had another baby boy who was perfectly healthy and a huge praise!
I knew eventually I wanted to get baptized but just never got around to it, and after coming to LEFC and seeing how, pre-renovataion, people usually got baptized in the freezing cold, duck-filled Lititz Springs, I knew that just wasn't for me. But now we have this beautiful indoor baptistry, and I knew this was a place I could see myself finally being baptized. I just want to end all of this with my favorite verse that got me through all of the hard times, Matthew 11:29, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Elisa Walton