Kristin & Ryan – The Kidd Family Blog

I was born into a Dutch, Christian Reformed family, the oldest daughter, and second oldest of six children. I was raised in Whitby until the age of seven, before moving with my family to a little village just outside of Oshawa and making that our home for the past fourteen years.

My family has been a part of the Orthodox Christian Reformed Church of Bowmanville since I was about five years old. I was raised with mealtime and bedtime prayers and children’s Bible stories, as well as regular church attendance and Sunday school. Furthermore, my parents were diligent to provide me with a quality home education, which involved Christian-based curriculum.

When I was about ten years old, I joined GEMS, a girls’ club program run by the Christian Reformed Church. A year later, I attended a GEMS conference, and was strongly impacted by the gospel message which they presented. Upon returning home from this conference, I gave my heart to the Lord, and embarked on my journey of faith.

The first few years saw little in the way of growth. But about the time I was fourteen, I began reading the Bible for myself and applying its principles little by little. Nearly two years later, I took up the practice of prayer after being inspired by the piety of a main character in a Christian novel. Through prayer, I began to draw closer to God. As this happened, God revealed to me different areas of sin in my life and helped me to overcome them.

I attended Durham Christian High School for my first and final year of secondary studies, and was homeschooled for the two years in between. At Durham Christian High, I found myself inspired by the faith and goodwill of some, while disappointed with the apathy of others, and confronted by liberal Christian thinking.

In the fall of 2004. I entered the psychology BA program at Tyndale University College and Seminary. At Tyndale, I encountered a wide spectrum of different Christian traditions, trends, and ideas. Most notably, in my first year, I gained a deeper understanding of prayer and experienced a new dynamic of this practice when I joined the prayer group, an intercessory team, and began sharing times of prayer with a close friend and confidant. I formed friendships with a few other students who challenged me with different perspectives and discussed topics related to Christian living at length and in depth.

In my second year, I changed programs and enrolled in philosophy. I had a growing interest in apologetics, and with the help of a friend (and a lot of divine assistance!) I began an apologetics small group. In the following semester, I went on a missions trip to Moosenee and Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario as a member of an outreach team which was using hockey clinics as a means of bringing the Gospel message to the First Nations people. I came away from that trip with a better understanding of what is of true importance in life.

When I returned to Tyndale for my third year of studies in the fall of 2006, I had a close-knit group of solid Christian friends who were (and are) mutually encouraging and edifying. Together we prayed, shared, bore each other’s burdens, discussed aspects of our Christian lives, learned how to defend our faith, evangelized, and stalked professors! (in addition to meeting our responsibilities as students).

In 2006, I met Ryan. My life has not been the same since.