Like many millennials, Christie Schrader was raised in the church. She grew up Catholic and did everything that was expected of her—attended weekly mass, was a devoted member of the Youth Group, and even helped lead small groups during her church’s weekend bible retreats and camps. Though she saw Jesus as an untouchable figured, gracefully floating on a cloud and surrounded by light, she at the time believed that her relationship with Him was steady. That was until she found her world turned upside down.
At the age of 15, she developed a 24-inch blood clot in her leg which not only ended her soccer career, but nearly took her life. Feeling constant discomfort, she taught herself how to ignore the excruciating pain in her leg and coped with the loss of control of her body in the only way she could—by developing an eating disorder she would hide until after college. For the next 15 years, her constant need of control would be her greatest battle. One she decided to fight alone.
She pushed away her family, her friends, and allowed her anger with God to drive a wedge between herself and who she believed God to be. Instead, she found fulfillment in her work.
“I had so much pride—and only felt satisfied when I achieved something and received praise. I wanted to feel good enough. And the more praise I got, the bigger my ego became, and the harder I worked. Nothing else mattered to me.”
This is how her life would continue for the coming years. Though she convinced herself she was fulfilled, happy, and satisfied, she was also constantly riddled with anxiety, always looking for the next thing, moving far too quickly, and incredibly insecure. She jumped from one bad relationship to another which left her more broken than the last. Until, that is, she met her husband, and everything changed.
“I knew on our first date that he was the honest-to-God answer to my prayers—and I wanted to be worthy of him. And I knew that the only way I could hope to be the person he deserved was by giving my life to Jesus. So I did.”
Christie and her husband, Eddie, were soon invited to attend Element Church through his sister and family. Their first service together was the Christmas candlelit service in 2022.
“The simplicity of the candlelit service is what truly impacted me. All of the focus was on Jesus, which was refreshing. It showed me that a relationship with Him should be humble and simple.”
That was the first time she realized that her view of Jesus—floating on a cloud and just out of reach—was completely wrong. She realized that a relationship with Him was meant to be tangible and personal, a concept she never was taught growing up. However, that decision to follow Jesus didn’t come without its own challenges.
“Almost immediately after Eddie and I met and started to pursue God togerther, my career started accelerating and my pride became a bigger problem. I was being tested and failed completely over and over again while my husband practiced endless patience as he lovingly convicted me—though I fought him every step of the way. It wasn’t really until I decided to surrender and hand my career over to God that things started to fall into place. It felt as if choosing Jesus and choosing Eddie put my life on a chaotic fast track and I was forced to either stay on the destructive path I’ve paved on my own, or jump off completely. God really made it obvious for me by showing me where my life was headed.”
In those moments, she realized that if she stayed on the path she was on, she would lose the man and the future God had planned for her. These days, however, women are constantly taught the importance of pride and independence despite what they could undeniably lose in the process. So, she had to make a choice: stay on her path, or submit to God’s.
“This world teaches us that submission and surrender are words to describe the weak. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Submission and surrender describe what is means to be completely free from the shackles and burdens of this world—and there’s a strength in that. There is nothing like the indescribable joy and peace that comes with accepting Jesus. All of the twists and turns in your life begin to make sense, and you start to look at life through a new lens. And life is just genuinely better.”
So, Christie surrendered. She let go of the idea of the future she thought would fulfill her, and embraced the new future she sees for herself. She put her career in God’s hands and within a matter of a few months, left the corporate world, got a job working at Element Church, bought a house with her husband, and now they are expecting a baby this Christmas. A little miracle they never thought possible—and the timing of which couldn’t make any more sense. But, that’s God, right?
Since their first service at Element Church, Christie and her husband have attended nearly every 9am Sunday service with their family, began getting more involved with Team Element and Life Groups, got baptized, and now dedicate their evenings to cooking dinner, praying together, and reading the Bible.
“Now I just want to be a wife, a mom, and a friend who other’s see as wise, graceful, and kind. I want Eddie to be a husband, a dad, and a friend who is seen as stable, disciplined, and strong. And I want our children to have a hand in helping the world come to God. The rest will take care of itself.”