BREMAN, Ala. – Cold Springs’ junior softball player Leila Pearl reflects on how much God has helped her during some tough times in her life, and a Bible verse and two Christian songs have completely changed her life.
“God means a lot to me. He’s really saved me, and I’ve gotten much closer to Him recently. I’m starting to understand His Word and how He blesses us in ways we understand and won’t understand until later on in our life. He’s changed my life a lot here recently,” Pearl said. “Luke 1:37 is definitely my favorite Bible verse: ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible,’ because when you have God, you realize that every obstacle you thought was impossible, becomes possible. Gratitude and Who Else are my favorite songs. Gratitude was one of the first worship songs I discovered when I went to church in 2024, and Who Else was a church camp song that just really spoke to me. Those songs mean a lot to me. Gratitude really changed my life. That was the first worship song I heard when I went to church. I thought that God wasn’t really my thing, and I wasn’t too sure of it, but when I heard the line, ‘Every song must end, but you never do,’ it made me understand that God won’t give up, no matter how much you don’t believe. The line in Who Else: ‘You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory,’ changed my perspective and just made me get closer to God, knowing that I could get out of the depression I was in. They really changed my life and perspective on things.”
Leila has leaned on a couple of Godly role models during her walk with God, and she wants to help play a part in helping people of all ages find Jesus Christ.
“Bryce Crawford is a huge Christian. He has podcasts, and I watch them to get a better understanding of a book in the Bible. He goes into depth about the verses and really explains it, which is a huge help for me, because I don’t understand the verses sometimes. My youth pastor has also helped me a lot by going into depth and helping me get up and go to church in the mornings and on Wednesdays,” Pearl said. “I feel like it’s very important to help people find God. Some people may be struggling with things that they can’t stop doing, and it’s a struggle, or they don’t have friends, or are unhappy. Going to church is a big blessing. It’s so positive, and I really think that it changes people’s mornings, especially if they’ve had a bad morning so far. Going to church can really help them, so it’s really important to help everyone find God, and just guide them to walk with Christ.”
She wants to be a role model for so many kids not only in and outside of school, but in sports as well. She was a part of a very special church camp up in Tennessee and quickly changed countless lives at that camp.
“It’s so important, especially as a new Christian. You have to try to be that role model, so you don’t give a bad impression on people. Some people think of Christians as good people, until they meet one bad person, and then they are considering not walking with Christ. I definitely don’t want to give off the impression that Christians aren’t good people, because you always try to pull people closer to the Lord, instead of dragging them away and giving them a negative mindset on God and other Christians,” Pearl said. “My favorite church mission has to be church camp. It is such a surreal experience, feeling the Holy Spirit, and just people my age praising the same loving God. It’s a really great feeling. I’ve only been to church camp twice. This year will be my third. Everyone at church camp are the nicest people ever and has such a great attitude.
Leila added, “Union is much different from the first church camp I went to. Union is up in Tennessee. It’s on a college campus, but everyone was much more positive there. It was so special being there, knowing that you have people who care about you and want to know your testimony during free time or whenever we would get into our groups to play or have a Bible Study. That church camp is so special, because I truly felt Jesus and seen Jesus in everyone there.”
Leila’s life quickly changed a couple of years ago, but she leaned on God to help her get through these difficult times in her life. She gave advice to those people who might be struggling when it comes to having a relationship with the Lord.
“After my grandpa passed away, I fell into a deep depression, and I finally found Jesus in January of 2024. When I lost my friends in December, it definitely urged me to get much closer to Jesus, because He’s doing these things for a reason. He has heard or seen things that I haven’t, so these things happening to me didn’t make me happy, but I realized that God is doing this for a reason,” she said. “I would tell them to go to church, even if you don’t want to wake up and go and find friends who will pull you closer to Jesus. Definitely pray too, especially with worship music. It helps me feel the Lord’s presence a whole lot more.”
She does some very special Godly rituals throughout her day, and she has learned a very important lesson during her journey so far. She hopes that people take away a lot from her walk with God.
“I pray whenever I feel upset or if somebody is going through something. I listen to worship music in the morning to feel more positive, or sometimes, I even ask my church families to pray for me,” she said. “I’ve learned that it’s okay to feel sad about receiving lessons from God, but you can also realize the good in those lessons. What I want people to take away from my walk with God is to always pray whenever things are going great or not so great, and to understand that you may not know or understand what Jesus is doing now, but in the future, you will understand why He did those things for you in the past.”
Leila also does some special rituals on the softball field as well, and she wants to see a lot of younger kids grow closer to Him.
“Before softball games, I pray by myself. I pray for the health of my teammates and opposing players, then when I’m in the outfield, I bring my teammates (left fielder and right fielder) to pray with me. After the game or practice, we all pray as a team. We’ve gotten much closer doing that, and I love praying with my teammates,” she said. “I want to see a lot of kids grow closer to Christ and just influence their friends or family to go to church or grow their relationship with God and realize how much of an impact Jesus can make. I’ve actually influenced my dad to go to church with me a lot, and he loves it.”
