Christ and Nothing Else: Sam’s Story

In November of her freshman year, Sam had a conversation with an InterVarsity student leader that she would vividly remember a whole year later. 

The leader told Sam that if he lost everything –– his family, his belongings, everything and everyone –– he would still be okay, because he has Jesus.

As a new Christian just getting to know Jesus for herself, Sam was skeptical. “Really?” she remembers asking. “That’s a bold claim to make! You can say that, but is that how you would genuinely perceive it?”

“All you really need is Christ,” he insisted. “Nothing else.”

Little did Sam know that, just a month or so later, she would end up in a situation that put that to the test. 

The Right Place at the Right Time

When Sam stepped onto the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she had no experience with Christianity and no intention of exploring it. She encountered InterVarsity completely by accident.

Searching for friendship and community, Sam often noticed groups gathering around the volleyball courts and decided to join whoever was there the next time she passed by. That group turned out to be InterVarsity –– they were hosting a volleyball tournament and immediately invited Sam to join. 

“They were without a doubt the most welcoming and non-judgmental people I’ve ever met,” Sam expressed. 

Drawn to this unique community, Sam filled out a contact card and started exploring religion for the first time. Though she was worried at first that Bible study would be “kinda lame,” she decided to give it a shot.

“I don’t think I’ve skipped a single Bible study since,” she said. 

At fall conference, Sam was challenged to go all in for Jesus, having not yet turned over every part of her life to him. “I think everyone has something that, when they’re learning about Jesus, they don’t want to surrender,” Sam said.

 She began asking for advice around her chapter about how to live a more Christian life. One student leader’s response surprised her. Instead of telling her to work hard toward living differently, he encouraged her to just focus on drawing closer to God. Finding out that God’s love and grace worked this way was surprising to Sam. And soon after taking this advice, Jesus quickly did satisfy all her desires.

Losing Everything 

When winter break began, Sam’s life turned upside down. 

Having lost her dad when she was 17, Sam was no stranger to pain. But when her mother decided Sam was not welcome back home after the semester, Sam was left with nothing: no family, no belongings, and nowhere to go. While this moment could have been marked with hopelessness and despair, it ended up being transformational. God shifted from not just being in Sam’s head, but also in her heart.

“Everything felt very broken,” Sam remembers, but miraculously, she felt peace. “I wasn’t bitter about how my life was turning out.  And that’s a pretty crazy thing to say when you’re sleeping in your car in the middle of winter! I was trusting that God was going to make something of it.”

Sam wasn’t without a home for long. Through her InterVarsity community, God provided her with safe places to stay over break and people to come alongside her in prayer. She was even given the strength to forgive her mom. 

“I could tell that the Spirit of God was in them and was working through them,” Sam said. “God showed me patience, taught me love, and led me towards forgiveness. Through Scripture, through community, through prayer. It is only a demonstration of God’s power that something as painful as losing both parents can lead me to be more hopeful.”

It turned out Christ really was all she needed after all. 

The Power of a Story

That summer, Sam went on a mission trip to the Philippines and served children who had suffered through human trafficking. As she listened to their stories, she recognized pieces of her own –– not because their experiences were the same, but because she resonated with the feelings of being orphaned, betrayed, and stranded. Sam realized that her story, as painful as it was, could help her connect with them and give them hope. This filled her with gratitude. 

“I have been able to be that person who is able to understand others when it seems like nobody else does,” Sam has realized. “I don’t think you have to lose everything to learn that lesson, but I did. I am very grateful that I got to experience all of the pain that I did, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Now, Sam is planning to attend Urbana 25 and is considering how global missions can be part of her future. But in the meantime, she’s serving the students on her campus, showing them that Jesus can be enough.

After everything Sam went through, Jesus used InterVarsity to show her that he was always there to pick her back up. “I don’t wish that my life had gone a different way,” she states. “Through everything, I have learned to rely on God.”