Dinnen's spritual Journey Startred to at a young age as a child she was in the church from the time taht she could walk. Her Journey started off as Church being just something that particpated in, but she wasn't fully in on the reliogion yet even though she always belived. As Dinnen got older she started to have exepinces that would start to shape her belife and grow her faith. The event that really started to blossom her faith was when she went to the Quadirennal confernce in the AME church demeonation which is were yougn woprshippers from all ove the world come togther to worhsip in one place. Dinnen said that going into this conference that there was some sins that she was struggling with that she knew, and as a Chrstian she knew she shouldn't have been partaking in those sins. While she was at the confernce she says the first couple days were normal, but becuase of the sins she was dealing with she wanted to confied in one of the pastors that she went to the conference with but was unsure of how to do it. On the last Night of the confernce there was a big worship service and at the end they were doing an alter call. She said there was about 200 hundred kids that went up to it and then they took them to a sepreate room for prayer. While she was in the room she says " I could feel a chnage in the athmosphere as we were standing in the Room".

 She says that she was excited with anitcaption but was also kind of scared. After that the ministers walked into the room it felt like the holy spirit Fell on the whole room and people started falling out. She says it wasn't scary, but actually comforting. There was a minsiter that was in white that was helping and saving people and she saw that minsiter was coming toward her so she was trying to prepare herself for that to happen to her too and for all her sins to be on display. instead when the minsiter reached her she didn't talk about any of her sins, but instead she talked aboutthe root issue and told her "Don't let your striving for excellence make you feel like an odd ball. She said sfter this encounter it was like all the weight of what she wa sdelaing with was lifted off her shoulders she didnt have any more insecity or anything. This was her first encounter with god she said that she had for herself. Even with this encounter thoguh looking back she said she didn't relaize that to maintian this deliverence she needed to make sure she had a real realtioship with God. She says even when that sin is gone that you still have to fill the void for it and that's where that relationship with God comes in. becuase she didn't have a relationship at the time she said she started to slowly fall back into the old habits she had. Becuase of this she started to feel super condemded as God had bought her out of her sin, but she was falling into it again. The good thing she said about this thoguh is that she knew there was a way out of the sin she just hadn't figured out how yet.

 So she ends up going baout her normal day that day, but there is also a pinky promise meeting that day.  So  she goes to the meeting and a girl named Tia is leading the group and talking about prayer and what they thought it was. So she teaches them and talks about praying in the spirit which Dinnen had never heard of before. So Dinnen ends up asking about what that is, and the leadrers of the group go into detail telling there testimonies and God changed there lives and they got fillied with the holy spirit She thoguht it was just cool and wanted to be able to that do that too, but later she learned  that  when speaking in toungues people can operate in the spirit and flow off eachother. Because of hearing about this she felt like sharing the sins that she was going through and becuas eof how when someone else asked a question about following there pastor that had comitted a certain sin and the group handled it with grace she flet comfortable enough to share what she was going through. After sharing what she was going through the Leader of the group asked her is she wanted ot get filled with the Holy Ghost. So she said yes and so the leader of group as well as some of the other girls around began to pray and speak in toungues then the Leader Tia touched her forehead three times and she got filled and strted speking in tounges and again felt all the weight lifted off her shoulders from her sin. After this Tia started to mentor Dinnen in the ways of being a Christian. She taught her how to pray, how to have a relatioship with God, and how to fast. This really started to give her a solid foundation when it came to Chrisitanity, and so that she could maintain her deliverance from those sins. It allowed her to actually get to know God and not just have rushes with him then fall back into old habits and sins. She ends up joining Tia's church and they would go to church together. After that the group was doing well and geeting peopple filled woth the holy spirit, but after a little while though she said the Pinky Promise group started to fall apart and she ended up leaving. Looking back she said this is because "whenever you're doing something for the Lord and it catches a lot of traction, the enemy's going to throw a stone at it and try to knock it down because then you're striding light, you're scattering his kingdom and he's not about to just let that happen". 

Getting Filled with the Holy Ghost 

So after her expeience at the Quadreinealila she said becuase of the sins that she was struggling with she woudl watch testimonies of people that were dealing with the same thigns that she was and that gave her confromation she could come out of the sin she was dealing with. While watching these vidoe she came across a man that was tlakibg about hwo he was overcoming the sins that she was dealing with. She says this man also claimed that he knew when jesus was comign back, and claimed he was coming back in October of 2016. She says when she her this it ended up making her get really deep into chrsitianity as she said she believed everything he was saying at the time was true. So as she was going into her first year if college she got really deep into the word and chrstianity, but she said it was for all the wrong reasosn she was really trying to just save herself since everything he was saying she thoguht was true. During this she learned about different things such as speaking in toungues, demons, and as the holy ghost. she started to tell her friends about god and all the things she was learning, and how he was coming back and was trying to help them get right with god becuase she wanted to save them. During this time she learned alot about the supernatural as well. In the fall of her freshamn year she said that she wasn't anywhere near prepared looking back. But in her mind at the time she was leaernign all these new things so she thought she was safe, but she still didn't know how to apply any of this to her faith. So during her freshamn year she eneded up joing a group on campus called pinky promise  which she had learned about through the internet from a lady named Heather Lindsay, and so they ended up having a chapter on her campus. She also joined a gosped chior there as well. The Pinky Promise group would meet and talk about the bible as well as pray together. While being apart of this she still beleives that jesus is coming back on the date the guy had said so she was follwoing as many minstry people as she could at the time on social media which now she admits wasn't the best choice. During this time she ends up meeting and making a group of christian freinds and starts going to there church. While with this group she's still preparing for jesus to comeback, and so the date he said comes she stays up all night waiting for it to happen and nothing does and this leaves her in dissapointment. She ends up saying "  Lord, how dare you not come back?  What are you talking about?  I've been preparing for you for the last seven months and you're not here. 

The Death of the ego 

While in college Dinnen was apart of a Gospel chior. After getting Filled with the Holy Ghost she was praying for people, she was seeing people healed, and she was able to tell things about people without have ever even meeting them before. So she was able to start using her spirtual gifts. Because of  this in her gospel chior she started to get elevated quickly, But the problem  she said is with that is gifts and callings come without repentance, which  means you can have a gift and a calling, but have a trash character. So becuase of this she was going higher and higher in the chior, but her character wasn't there yet becuase she was still a baby in christianity, so her character hadn't been molded yet. Becuase of her gifts she got put into leadership positions and this all started to go to her head. So fat forward to the end of her school year she ends up trying to tell God she was staying in Michigan for the summer, but he says no and she says over the summer he humbled her, but when she got back to school she forgot all that humility. When she came back she said there was someone new who had joined the chior and this person also had spirtual gifts like her, but he also had a relationship with God and had good character. So becuase of this everyone started to flock to him and this made Dinnen feel jelaous and feel like how dare you take my shine and popularity from me. So this made her have a sense of hatred for him, but she knew that was a sin so she had a massive internal struggle of knowing she was sinning, but she didn't know what to do becuase that shine was filling her self esteem which she said she had struggles with at the time. This made her mad at God and she said " How dare you do this to me? How dare you take my audience?". So she started to back slide into the sins that she had been delivered from. So this made her feel depressed because she had put back all the chains she had asked God to take off of her and now she was to ashamed to go back and ask God to take them off again. While she was till faithful to her commitments of the gospel chior and church he relationship with God became very rocky. She said in this time she a call to work mentality. 

She felt like she had to do works to earn God's love and so she did different things like cover her hair and only wear skirts, but eventually god brought her out of this religiousness. So for the next few years her relationship with God was up and down, But then last year things changed  she was able to work through that shame and was finally humble  enough to come back and reapir her relationship with God, and she realized that although god doesn't want to put you through things  allowing you to work through them and come to him when you are ready is the ultimate love and even when you might not be on the path he has set for you he's always waititng with open arms when you deicde to comeback and you are never to far gone , and he will never force you he wants you to come by your own free will. this was when her faith really started to grow and hwo she viewed how a relationship with God works.

Spiritual Journey

Getting Filled with the Holy Ghost

The Death of the ego

Religion Versus Relationship