The world of social media often comes with a plethora of viral videos that seek to spread negativity.
A scroll through any of the latest trending topics leads one to believe there’s no more hope in the world.
But this high school valedictorian’s speech sent a much-needed positive message online.
South Carolina valedictorian delivers heartfelt speech about her Christian faith
A South Carolina valedictorian, Lydia Owens, went viral earlier this month after delivering a message of Christian faith during her commencement speech. But Owens came close to not showcasing her faith.
Around Christmas of her junior year, she found out she was “kind of in the running for class valedictorian,” but it was a guarantee by the end of her first semester of senior year. The only question was what she should talk about?
Owens said that she “definitely always knew” she wanted to speak about her faith. She “debated for a long time how to approach” the subject of faith. She was concerned over “how people would respond” to her talking about her faith, but knew that Jesus was at “the center of [her] life.”
In the end, Owens’ friends told her that it was important to “be bold” in her faith.
Classmates were encouraged to remember “God promises that His grace is sufficient”
The valedictorian went home and “scratched” the entire first draft of her graduation speech and “just sat there and prayed.” She asked the Lord to speak through her and help her to deliver a speech exactly as Jesus would want her to. Then she said she “followed what He told [her] to do.”
She encouraged her classmates to remember that, “no matter what your future holds, please remember that life is so much more than how successful you are. Even if you accomplish all of your dreams or none of them at all, you are still valuable and still good enough, because you are made in the image of God.”
Owens said that people shouldn’t be concerned about their faults or “worry about whether or not you’ll be successful.” She told them to remain steadfast knowing that “God promises that His grace is sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in our weakness.”
She explained that aside from God, the biggest influence in her life was her mother.
Owens was inspired by her mom’s ability to “talk to people about Jesus” and wanted to be like her
Owens discussed the death of her mother, a major challenge that fell on her lap in the middle of her high school career. “It’s so, so difficult. It’s only been two years, and so it’s definitely still a pretty fresh wound,” she said. But despite the hardship, she said it has made her family “a lot better than we were.”
Owens described her mom as “an ideal example of how to live our Christian faith.” She said that her mom “loved everyone so intentionally and would always go out of her way to talk to people about Jesus,” adding that it was “inspiring” and she “always wanted to be like [her] mom.”
Her speech prompted many in the audience to get their phones out and start recording. She said this wasn’t expected, but at that point she “was like ‘OK, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. God is doing this.”
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
