Walking With Lyme, Walking With God

Sam Sofio carried a simple dream of attending Christian university where faith wasn’t an accessory but the air everyone breathed. He pictured chapel worship and professors who prayed before class. He also sensed a calling to tell stories that point people to God.

Then his health took a hard turn, and money worries crept in.

He woke up bone-tired no matter how long he slept. Headaches throbbed behind his eyes, his joints ached, and his mind stayed foggy. Ordinary days started to feel like hills with no summit, and his dream began to look expensive and impossible.

Sam refused to pretend it didn’t hurt. He carried his questions to the Lord, sometimes through clenched teeth, and he learned a quiet truth: God never stepped back. In long nights and slow mornings, Sam found the Father near — steady, faithful, and kind.

He spent many hours searching for answers. He clicked through articles and forums. He tried to name what was stealing his strength and hope to attend a Christian university. When Lyme disease finally entered the conversation, it brought relief and new complexity at the same time. Treatments took patience, and setbacks took humility. Chronic illness demanded daily courage. Still, God met Sam in his struggles and comforted him so he could comfort others.

Little by little, God kept Sam’s dream alive. Doors opened, and provision came when it mattered most. Strength arrived in measured portions — enough for the next step. As the fog lifted just enough to see forward, one path came into focus: the Christian campus he had prayed for.

That path led him to Cedarville University. The suffering didn’t end, yet God kept Sam steady through it. Cedarville became the place where Sam could keep healing, learning, and walking with the Lord.

Now, Sam studies professional writing and information design as a junior. He hopes, Lord willing, to serve a Christian nonprofit like Samaritan’s Purse after graduating in 2027. He wants to tell on-the-ground stories that help prayer partners and donors see what God is doing.

Sam doesn’t waste his scars. He advocates for others battling Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses, speaking up so they don’t feel invisible, and he’s shared his journey in places he never imagined. From a Health and Human Services panel to a conversation with HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Sam carries one steady message wherever God sends him: The Lord meets people in suffering, and He stays.

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