Denver Seminary

ENGAGE 17 EXPECTATIONS ARE DANGEROUS. THEY SUBTLY COLOR WHAT WE SEE OF THE WORLD UNTIL THEIR MANY LAYERS DISTORT OUR VIEW OF CREATION AND OUR CREATOR. WHETHER THROUGH OUR FAMILIES, CULTURES, SOCIAL MEDIA, OR OTHER INFLUENCERS, WE GROW UP BELIEVING THINGS THE LORD WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE TO STRIP FROM US SO WE MAY SEE HIM CLEARLY. Amanda Grace Caldwell, a 2014 graduate of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, grew up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, in a tightly cinched area of the Bible belt. This allowed for a safe, warm upbringing, but Amanda Grace did not grasp what it meant to be free in Christ until she moved to Denver. That tough but tender Texas culture influenced the way she thought believers were supposed to follow Christ and what He expected of them. "I grew up in what felt like a small town. A lot of folks knew my family, and I put a lot of pressure on myself. My nickname was 'The Perfect Child,' and I sought perfection in everything I did," said Amanda Grace. "Yet the Lord is wooing you to Him your whole life." She had her first experience of that wooing at an early age on a mission trip to Mexico. "I sat on the steps of a church and realized I felt the Lord calling me to listen to people's stories. I don't know how I knew what a counselor was at the age of 13, but I knew I was supposed to be one." THE "PERFECT" PLAN Blessed with a heritage of believers in her family, Amanda Grace shared, "My grandfather and great-grandfathers went to seminary, so I knew for a long time that I, too, wanted to get a counseling degree from seminary." As a self-proclaimed "meek-but-driven" woman, she said, "I'm a planner and a goal-setter. So at an early age I mapped out my life with help from my parents, including what I might study in college and how my life might lead to seminary." Amanda Grace was so careful in her planning that the only decision left for her to make was choosing which seminary to attend. To make that decision, she wrote to Dr. Mark Young, president of Denver Seminary, and asked him to describe a typical student's experience. Dr. Young's reply was simple and profound: "If you want to be challenged to think and grow in ways that may be personally uncomfortable at times, but always redemptive, you'll love it here." Because she was called to counseling, which would invariably lead her to meet people from all different backgrounds, experiences, and faith frameworks, that was all the convincing she needed. "I moved to Colorado in the summer of 2011. Up to that point, my whole life had gone to plan until I got to Denver Seminary." THE MEANING OF GRACE Throughout her youth, Amanda Grace had only been called by her first name. But upon moving to Denver, she wanted to embrace her middle name, starting fresh as "Amanda Grace." Little did she know, she would soon learn the true meaning of the word. "I expected seminary to be this mountain-high experience, but it just wasn't," Amanda Grace shared. "So much of who I was—who I thought I had to be—was broken down there." She was not used to accepting grace. Her Texas- tough mentality taught her to do the right thing and be kind, but "growing up I thought God was good when life was good. I truly believed that if I did all the right things, good things would happen to me. Having that lie stripped away from me was like ripping scales from my eyes." TAKE IT FROM HERE Isabellaphoto/iStock

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