Emily’s story

Posted on December 9, 2013

 

Emily Cosson, a senior Criminal Justice major from Cotopaxi, Colo, has a very unique story of how God got ahold of her life. Her first year at CMU, then Mesa State College, Emily “was definitely not interested in getting involved with another group of Christians. I had been hurt pretty badly and was running as fast as I could from God,” she said. “I was given the contact info [for Master Plan] on a slip of paper, and when I got home, I threw it out without even looking at it.”

But God had a different plan. Emily says, “The first week of school, I was sitting in the campus library doing homework in the computer lab. My cheap little phone buzzed with a text message that said ‘Please call!!’ I had text messaging disabled and it wasn’t a part of my plan, plus no one had my number outside of my parents, so I was really puzzled. I brushed it off as a wrong number and kept up my work. About 5 minutes later, my phone buzzed again. The message this time read, ‘PLEASE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ I decided to call the unfamiliar number and let them know they had the wrong person. When the girl on the other end answered, I bumbled out something about getting a text message and not supposed to be getting them because I was broke and in college. The girl said “Oh you’re in college? You need to talk to my mom.” She handed the phone over to her mom. The woman who came on the phone was one of the staff leaders of Master Plan (the very one whose contact information I had been given).”

Mitch Kostreva, the lady on the phone, convinced Emily to try one meeting. Emily was skeptical, but she went.

“When I went, I was really surprised by how genuine everyone was and something kept me going back. The more I saw, I realized these people not only proclaimed God, but they lived out their faith. It was real to them. God used this to start pulling me back into a relationship with Him.”

It’s been five years since that day, and Emily is now fully involved as part of the leadership team, a Bible study leader and a discipler to younger students. She’s shared her testimony, given talks and sang on the music team, but most importantly, her perspective on God  has done a 180.

“Watching the people involved [with Master Plan] taught me that God is not like most of His followers. It caught my attention, and I wanted to understand what made them different. I’ve learned God is not this strict, distant dude just sitting around waiting for me to put a toe out of line and smack me upside the head. I’ve realized that God is an incredible being who loves greatly and is very easily accessible for anyone who wants to have that relationship with Him, and that relationship is life changing. They taught me about grace, which God is still working on me accepting for myself.

“I have a better understanding of the Bible that is getting better every day. I’ve learned that our purpose, my purpose, is to love God and love others. I’ve realized that my relationship with God is the absolute most important thing in my life and needs to be priority number one.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that no matter how terrible things get, while I may not understand, God will never abandon me. I’ve been through some truly horrible times the past couple of years and it is only by the grace of God that I am still alive today. He has blessed me immensely with an incredible community of believers who serve him and pour love out onto others, myself included.”

However, Emily understands that Master Plan is not the answer to everything. Instead, it’s a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that will get people through the hard time and keep them going strong in the good times.

“[Master Plan] is not going to solve all your problems or replace church, nor should you expect it too. God uses the people and uses Master Plan to provide an environment to meet Him, to learn about Him and to build life-long relationships with some incredible people. That’s what life is all about. It’s not about money or grades or whatever degree you’re going to have. It’s about people and about God, because that is all that is going to last forever. Where the rubber meets the road is when the tough times hit, and there are God-loving people there to help you through it. It’s being able to invest in people and allow others to invest in me that has made the biggest difference in my life.”

Thanks to God grabbing Emily and pulling her back to Him, she’s ready for whatever lies ahead.

“I view people, God and the world through different eyes, and I have been given a newfound strength to be able to face whatever comes my way. I don’t know what the future holds after graduation right at this moment, but I know Who holds my future, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. I’m ready to dig in and change the world.”