I’m a strong believer when it comes to things working themselves out and that everything happens for a reason. You can’t rise up if you have never been knocked down.

Some may recall one of my past columns: #OpportunityLost. The jist of it was I lost the opportunity to go play college soccer due to my immature choices. My social media was not, so to speak, appropriate for a Christian college athlete.  My social media did not reflect my character or who I was. I was oblivious to the fact that I was slowly destroying my dream. The coach had called and informed me she didn’t think I was fit for the team, school, and program. I had lost my opportunity.

I not only wanted to learn from my mistake, I wanted other students to see how crucial it is to have a clean and respective profile. I hear people talking about twitter drama and it makes me feel sorry for that person. They have no idea how dangerous it may be. Any chance I get, I share my story. If I can save one person from making the same mistake I did it’s good enough for me. The embarrassment I went though was something no one wants to feel.

Since that column was posted a lot has changed.

I remain off social media and have cleaned up my act. I tried to stay positive and use it as a learning experience. With that being said I was not ready to give up. That whole ordeal opened my eyes, and I wasn’t going to give up on this school. I believe that sometimes we need to fail to realize how much we want something. There’s always a way, you just have to find it.

But my story isn’t over yet. I have one more chapter to tell. Luckily this one has a happy ending.

The coach gave me another chance. She called me and invited me back for another college visit. She had been praying about it and decided to give me another shot. I am so blessed for that. She even said she wasn’t holding anything against me and I had a new clean slate. Who I am in person was how she was going to look at me, not by what my Twitter said.

I went back up and stayed with another player. I was the only prospective student athlete this time. I was able to attend a few classes with different players and train twice with the team. At the end of the last practice the coach invited my father and I into her office. The coach offered me a spot on the team.

I was not expecting that. I was in total shock. I didn’t know that was going to happen. All my prayers and hope had paid off. My dream of playing college soccer is about to come true.

I have now officially committed to play soccer at John Brown University, a small private christian college in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. I will be attending in 2015 and playing for coach Kathleen Paulsen at my dream college.

No matter what the circumstances, if you want something you go for it. If there’s a will, there’s a way. I have so many people to thank for this. I couldn’t do it alone. The amount of times I wanted to give up and feel sorry for myself doesn’t compare to how many times I was helped up. All I wanted was to make my family and friends proud. And after losing the opportunity I felt I had let them down. I wasn’t going to stop until I fixed it. Now I can proudly say I did it. I fixed my mistakes and made it.