ERYN GLICKEN
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
I first read that quote in 2010 and I have lived by it to the best of my ability everyday since then. For so long, I kept trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with my life. What was my life purpose? What career was I meant to do? I didn’t feel like I fit in with almost anyone around me, and it brought on anxiety when I thought about it all. The day I heard that quote though, everything changed. I started asking myself this question: what makes me come alive?
I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Growing up for me was quite the rollercoaster. I have very happy memories of my early childhood years, including reading the Bible with my mom and siblings. But when my parents divorced when I was 8, it completely shattered my little sensitive heart and changed everything. After the divorce, I had a lot of anger through my teenage years and never attributed it to the divorce until I was an adult. But I enjoyed school for the most part, despite experiencing several deep traumas, including the death of my older brother when we were teenagers.
I loved church and I know it was my saving grace. I don’t ever remember having a “come to Jesus” moment. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve just remembered loving Him. My deepest longing and desire has always been to please Him and delight in Him, to live out the purpose and calling that He created me for. He gave me an enormous, vulnerable, loyal, deep-feeling, wide-open heart. I used to despise it, as if I was some sort of alien who saw the landscape of human ideas and experiences differently than everybody else, and that made things more challenging. I’ve only really come into this fuller understanding of myself and how God created me and my outlook on life in the last few years. It’s been transformational. I truly believe my honesty and deep sensitivity are super powers He wants me to give away and use to glorify Him, and to help the hurting and broken. I’m truly alive when I know I’ve helped bring hope and joy and healing when serving others. I've worked almost exclusively with kids and teenagers; they’ve been my passion since I was teenager myself, and I know God gave me the passion and experiences I’ve had in my own life to better and more uniquely serve them. He gave me a heart for the marginalized, the forgotten, the shunned, the outcasts, the ones overlooked even by the Church. It is my great hope that He opens the right doors for me to work with victims of human trafficking or youth at risk, but really, I’ll go anywhere He wants to take me.
As a child, I loved being outside as often as I could, usually barefoot, running around with friends or by myself. So as an adult, transitioning from bare feet in my own yard to being His hands and feet in the world is the only thing worthy of Him, and worthy of how He intricately created me. I’ve been preparing for this all my life, and I’m so ready for this next wild journey He has in store for me.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”
Isaiah 61:1-4 NIV
I first read that quote in 2010 and I have lived by it to the best of my ability everyday since then. For so long, I kept trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with my life. What was my life purpose? What career was I meant to do? I didn’t feel like I fit in with almost anyone around me, and it brought on anxiety when I thought about it all. The day I heard that quote though, everything changed. I started asking myself this question: what makes me come alive?
I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Growing up for me was quite the rollercoaster. I have very happy memories of my early childhood years, including reading the Bible with my mom and siblings. But when my parents divorced when I was 8, it completely shattered my little sensitive heart and changed everything. After the divorce, I had a lot of anger through my teenage years and never attributed it to the divorce until I was an adult. But I enjoyed school for the most part, despite experiencing several deep traumas, including the death of my older brother when we were teenagers.
I loved church and I know it was my saving grace. I don’t ever remember having a “come to Jesus” moment. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve just remembered loving Him. My deepest longing and desire has always been to please Him and delight in Him, to live out the purpose and calling that He created me for. He gave me an enormous, vulnerable, loyal, deep-feeling, wide-open heart. I used to despise it, as if I was some sort of alien who saw the landscape of human ideas and experiences differently than everybody else, and that made things more challenging. I’ve only really come into this fuller understanding of myself and how God created me and my outlook on life in the last few years. It’s been transformational. I truly believe my honesty and deep sensitivity are super powers He wants me to give away and use to glorify Him, and to help the hurting and broken. I’m truly alive when I know I’ve helped bring hope and joy and healing when serving others. I've worked almost exclusively with kids and teenagers; they’ve been my passion since I was teenager myself, and I know God gave me the passion and experiences I’ve had in my own life to better and more uniquely serve them. He gave me a heart for the marginalized, the forgotten, the shunned, the outcasts, the ones overlooked even by the Church. It is my great hope that He opens the right doors for me to work with victims of human trafficking or youth at risk, but really, I’ll go anywhere He wants to take me.
As a child, I loved being outside as often as I could, usually barefoot, running around with friends or by myself. So as an adult, transitioning from bare feet in my own yard to being His hands and feet in the world is the only thing worthy of Him, and worthy of how He intricately created me. I’ve been preparing for this all my life, and I’m so ready for this next wild journey He has in store for me.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”
Isaiah 61:1-4 NIV
