• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertising
  • Join PGM
Pepperdine Graphic

Pepperdine Graphic

  • News
    • Good News
  • Sports
    • Hot Shots
  • Life & Arts
  • Perspectives
    • Advice Column
    • Waves Comic
  • GNews
    • Staff Spotlights
    • First and Foremost
    • Allgood Food
    • Pepp in Your Step
    • DunnCensored
    • Beyond the Statistics
  • Special Publications
    • 5 Years In
    • L.A. County Fires
    • Change in Sports
    • Solutions Journalism: Climate Anxiety
    • Common Threads
    • Art Edition
    • Peace Through Music
    • Climate Change
    • Everybody Has One
    • If It Bleeds
    • By the Numbers
    • LGBTQ+ Edition: We Are All Human
    • Where We Stand: One Year Later
    • In the Midst of Tragedy
  • Currents
    • Currents Spring 2025
    • Currents Fall 2024
    • Currents Spring 2024
    • Currents Winter 2024
    • Currents Spring 2023
    • Currents Fall 2022
    • Spring 2022: Moments
    • Fall 2021: Global Citizenship
    • Spring 2021: Beauty From Ashes
    • Fall 2020: Humans of Pepperdine
    • Spring 2020: Everyday Feminism
    • Fall 2019: Challenging Perceptions of Light & Dark
  • Podcasts
    • On the Other Hand
    • RE: Connect
    • Small Studio Sessions
    • SportsWaves
    • The Graph
    • The Melanated Muckraker
  • Print Editions
  • NewsWaves
  • Sponsored Content
  • Digital Deliveries
  • DPS Crime Logs

Hope Dease Finds Hope in Her Faith

December 6, 2021 by Abby Wilt

Photo by Ryan Brinkman | Photo Editing by Haley Hoidal

Whether it’s sports, music, academics or politics, most people say they have something they are passionate about and stand firm on, even when their peers disagree. For senior International Studies major Hope Dease, that something is her faith.

Dease grew up in Edwards, Colo., and went to a Southern Baptist Church, but it wasn’t until she moved to Pepperdine that she started prioritizing her relationship with Jesus. She said as she became more independent in her faith, she started to prioritize her spiritual disciplines more and truly give her life to God.

“My faith motivates almost everything I do in my life,” Dease said. “[It] motivates the reason I’m studying International Studies, motivates my relationships, motivates why I get up in the morning.”

Dease said when she wakes up, she strives to surrender her whole day and life to God, as well as prioritize spiritual disciplines like prayer and reading the Bible.

“When I surrender to God, I release a lot of stress that I would have had,” Dease said. “The rest of the day — it’s no longer in my hands. It’s not in my control.”

When Dease started her first year at Pepperdine, she studied Computer Science and Math. Then she had the opportunity to study abroad in Jordan with Pepperdine and help Syrian refugees, which she said completely shifted her priorities. Now she said she believes it is her calling to love God and love others well, as well as to spread God’s love — even to people who don’t want to accept it.

“As Christians, as children of God, we’re called to literally include everyone,” Dease said. “The table of Christ is able to feast everyone — that includes people who don’t even want everyone at the table.”

As a follower of Christ, Dease said she encourages new believers to get into community with one another and start a habit of reading the Bible and praying, even if they are just dipping their toes in the water. She also said she believes it is important to be outward in her faith and share it with others.

“We’re created for community — that’s not really argued by anyone,” Dease said. “Even atheists will say, ‘OK, we need people.'”

Dease said she hopes by being open in her faith, people will recognize there is something different about her and that will be an opportunity for her to tell them about God.

–––––––––––––––––––––

Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic

Contact Abby Wilt via Twitter (@abby_wilt) or by email: abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

Filed Under: Everybody Has One, Special Publications Tagged With: Abby Wilt, faith, holy spirit, Hope Dease, International Studies, Jordan, Opinions, passions, pepperdine graphic media, study abroad

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Featured
  • News
  • Life & Arts
  • Perspectives
  • Sports
  • Podcasts
  • G News
  • COVID-19
  • Fall 2021: Global Citizenship
  • Everybody Has One
  • Newsletters

Footer

Pepperdine Graphic Media
Copyright © 2025 · Pepperdine Graphic

Contact Us

Advertising
(310) 506-4318
peppgraphicadvertising@gmail.com

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
(310) 506-4311
peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com
Student Publications
Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90263
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube