Refined Gold
God will often allow our hearts to be tested, so that we may prove our faith is genuine. Claudia is the epitome of a truly dedicated Christian; through her love, her actions, and a pure devotion to God. She is unbudging in her walk and will not tolerate anything less then total dedication to God. She truly is inspiring.
Ricky Jean~ Chief Editor
Dana: Tell me a little about yourself. Where did you grow up, stage in life, working, going to school, are you from DFW originally?
Claudia: I actually was born in Togo. Western Africa. It’s kind of like under the horn of Africa (on map). And it’s tropical weather so it’s pretty nice! I moved here when I was one years old, to California. The reason why we were able to move here is because we had a lottery opportunity to come here. They picked our name and we were able to come.
I was in California most of my life; then I moved to Denver, then after Denver I moved here! So I’ve been in two cities for the past two years.
Dana: What are some of your favorite hobbies and something you would consider unique about yourself?
Claudia: I love watching cartoons, like old cartoons. I’m a huge Johnny Test fan, like Danny Phantom. I also love to read. I used to read a lot more before college, because in college we have a lot of reading. Just like fictional novels and things like that. And I love cooking too.
Dana: Tell me how you were met/invited to Church?
Claudia: I was invited out when I was a freshman in college. I was seventeen years old. I was actually invited by Sam Pavon (Wilson at the time) and Megan Loheed, they both reached out to me. It’s funny because I started studying the bible for like two months and I stopped for six months.
Then Megan reached out to me, she invited me out to Women’s day, and then from there I studied the bible even more. Then I became a disciple.
Dana: Describe your relationship with God prior to studying The Bible and how it has changed?
Claudia: I’ll be honest, I didn’t really have a relationship with God before I studied the Bible. I definitely felt like I was just going through the motions; like going to church and just filling a seat. It didn’t really change me. Now I feel like God is my friend, we talk all the time. I’m able to read his word daily, and build my relationship with God, it’s not the same every single day. I strive to be better more and more.
Dana: What are some of your favorite scriptures and why?
Claudia: Honestly the scriptures that have kept me going is Psalms 34, it talks about how a broken and contrite spirit God cannot despise. That’s one of my favorites, just because I’m very emotional. We go through a lot and just being able to see that God sees that heart, he’s not going to despise that. So just that personal relationship with him, it’s encouraging to know.
Another one would be Hebrews 12; it talks about how God disciplines us because he loves us. I really appreciate that because sometimes in the moment I could be disciplined, and I could get discouraged. But I realized that no– this is because God loves me. He sees me as his child, and what child doesn’t go through discipline? I’m grateful for God’s discipline through all the trials.
Dana: What advice would you give someone who has started studying the Bible or is considering it?
Claudia: My advice would be for them to really focus on getting their convictions or their beliefs from the scriptures. I know for me, studying the bible, I would go to a lot of people; I’d go to my friends, I would go to my pastor, I would go to my parents– but at the end of the day you have to make sure that whatever your belief is it’s firmly rooted in the scripture, and it motivates you.
You can’t be motivated by your family, or from culture, or from your friends and things like that. That’d be my encouragement. Study the scriptures and make sure that whatever you’re listening to is from the bible. Check the source to make sure you’re not just believing anything that anybody says or preaches.
Dana: What do you love about the Kingdom?
Claudia: What I really love is just the family. I love how we’re all different, we’re all from different walks of life, different countries. I’m not even from this country. Meeting other people from different cultures and they have different experiences, and all of us are together and unified because of God. That’s probably the most special thing.
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