KarMel
Scholarship 2008
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Honorable
Mention: Best Religion/Faith “A Journey with God” By Donnie
Hyso - IN |
Desciption of Submission: “A coming out story, finding who God created me to
be.” - Donnie
Why Karen and Melody Liked It: We loved how
he shared his experience with finding God as he was coming out. It's good
to show others that you can still find God even among the views of some
religious groups towards the GLBT community.
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Growing up in a Pentecostal church and family my
entire life, I was an active member, involved in the church choir, worship
team, and a state bible quiz competitions. In middle school I carried my
passion for Christ, creating a prayer group after going through so much
opposition through the school administration. By age 14, I found my place,
preaching on the pulpit through a youth led service. I had the reputation as
a young man on fire for God, eventually earning the nick name Reverend Hyso,
backed up by my huge collection of Christian t-shirts that I had accumulated
from church camps. Everyone thought I had it together and that one day I was
going to be a great Evangelical leader, but little did they know I was
struggling deep inside with my sexuality. I first started noticing my sexual attraction to
men early on, trying hard as possible to put it all behind me, and move on.
It never clicked with me; I didn’t have the overall demeanor of a
stereotypical gay man. Why was God letting
this happing to me? Then people would ask me why I never had a girlfriend. My
answer was simply because I felt like God was calling me to remain single. In
reality, I couldn’t explain it; I wasn't even attracted to them at all. It rapidly became worse for me, and I finally
decided I needed help. Prayer became a regular thing for me, going to bed at
nights, hoping that I could wake up in the morning, and look at a woman like
I could a man, questioning why God would never answer my prayers. I then turned
to an ex-gay ministry, Exodus International, which strived for change through
counseling, and group sessions, but quickly lost interest because of the
money required. My church didn’t apparently offer any help, and I could no
longer tolerate my youth pastor’s sermons compiled with the latest gay
bashing jokes. I needed HELP not ridicule. I decided to disappoint my church and family by
attending a more liberal church in my community alone. Unfortunately I found
more of the same, being told I was living a life in sin and if I didn't
change I would spend an eternity in hell. At that point I gave up on the
church, myself, and I almost gave up on God, by falling into a suicidal state
of depression and enclarity. Sleep became very hard most nights, contemplating
if death was my only escape. Subsequently I knew I couldn’t give up, knowing
this journey could only began between God and me. I started researching the clobber passages churches
used to condemn homosexuals, coming across material that immediately turned
me away in favor for homosexuality. It persistently came up in my research,
drawing me in till I actually give it a chance. It didn’t happen overnight, but I began to
become very open minded, soaking it up. Could this be the way God created
me? I despised the LGBT Christian
community my entire life until now, and gained a new respect for them,
opening my eyes, ears, and heart to their message of Jesus. One of the
websites I found, wouldjesusdiscriminate.com, happen to be created by a
church in During my drive to |