Valentina Meza’s life is driven by her faith. The NW student is president of the Christian Student Ministries Club and plans to transfer to Texas Woman’s University to major in nursing. She shared her interests in a recent interview with The Collegian.
Q: How did you get involved with Christian Student Ministries?
A: I basically met the leader from last year. Her name is Erica, and I had her in my life cycle class. She mentioned it to me, and I found out that they had meetings on Mondays. I started coming, and that’s how I got involved. It’s perfect. They are so loving, of course.
Q: How has your faith played a role in your everyday life?
A: I experienced something new that I was not expecting in my life. My stepdad [divorced my mom], and it changed completely everything. … My mom said we have to stay at my aunt’s house and stay there for a little while. I decided to start praying, start reading my Bible. I’m still heartbroken, but you know, when you lose everything, God is the only one that can fill you up. Like there’s nothing else, no friends, no career. So, in my daily life, my foundation is God, because really, no treasure can fill me up, — only God — and make me happy. Right now, I’m smiling because of God, because I would be crying. So that’s how my faith plays a big role. I know people that are gonna hear this, they have experienced worse things. Like my problem might be a little smaller, but there’s a lot of people that are facing challenges. Trusting in God is the only thing that will give us peace.
Q: Has your faith in God helped you?
A: It has helped me a lot. … Whenever I talk about God, whenever I preach the word, it talks to my spirit. So that’s why I need to preach the word of God, because the enemy likes to put us down, make us sad. But we’re all called to preach the gospel. A lot of people think we’re holy, but no, we’re all facing challenges. So it’s important to show vulnerability and have compassion, and people can relate to us in that way. That’s why they can relate to God, because He experienced all the challenges we have experienced when Jesus came.
Q: Do you have any other interests?
A: I play piano for my church. My worship leader is the one that has been teaching me, and it’s something that I really love.
Q: How long have you been playing?
A: About six or eight months. It’s scary because someone watching you play, you can get nervous, like “What if I mess up?” When I get into music, I feel like I forget about everything — about school, work, family, challenges — and I just love music.
Q: What got you into loving piano and wanting to try it?
A: I’ve always [sung] in church, and as a singer, I have seen a lot of pianists and how they worship God through their instrument. I worship God through my voice. That is an instrument, too. Some people don’t think that, but it is our inner instrument. I feel like when you combine piano and singing, it’s something incredible. So that’s why I wanted to start piano and also to write songs. I still haven’t finished writing an actual song. My worship leader, she tells me to read songs and start playing chords and start to make the words.
Q: Writing songs to sing or play?
A: Both. I started doing one a couple weeks ago. It’s about Matthew 6:33. It talks about seeking, first, the kingdom of God and everything else will be added into you. And it talks about our worries. I’m usually a person that worries a lot, and I need to give it to God, so writing songs helps me in my daily life.
Q: What are your favorite books?
A: I like one that is called the “Battlefield of the Mind.” It’s by Joyce Meyer, and it’s It talks about the challenges we face, the tactics of the enemy trying to get into our mind.
Q: If you could have the perfect life, what would it be like?
A: It would be just having peace. I don’t even care about the material stuff. My dream is to see my family members, all of them, being safe.
Q: Is your family the most important in your life?
A: They’re very important. That’s why I have been very affected with everything going on, because of my family. I’m from Venezuela, and my mom, she never married my dad, and I grew up without a dad then we came to the United States. We spent a few years here. My mom got married to my stepdad, and I saw him as my father figure, but now that I don’t have either of them, it’s hard. But I have learned that I need to put God [first]. He’s my father. He’s the one that sustains me, and I like that. In the Bible it says that even if your mother or dad forsakes you, He will always be with you. God will always be with you. In my future life, I pray that I will have a good husband, because I don’t want my kids to experience everything I have. My mom is amazing, but there’s also things that only dads can do.
Q: How would you describe yourself?
A: I think I’m very hard on myself. I’m usually a very happy person, and something about me is that I put other people before me. Sometimes that affects me, because I need to care about myself too.
