Graeson Dall
My story is one of a rollercoaster you could say, and still then I think it would be an understatement. From injury-plagued, party scene, to a life of addiction, and then to truly a resurrection to a new life and restoration in Him. No reversion story or conversion story needs to be a dramatic St. Paul getting knocked off his horse kind of story, but this is just the reality of my story. With that being said, the Lord blessed me through all of my years as a young child, all the way up to this present day. My family is amazing - my mother and father showed their 3 sons what true, authentic sacrificial love was in the home. My mother and father both have hearts dedicated to service as they practiced their careers. My mother is a nurse and my father a retired firefighter after 30+ years of service. I also come from a very military family, and all three of my brothers served as well as my father. To say the least, I had a great foundation laid before me. I am a cradle Catholic and was brought up in my faith from a very young age. The Lord now, looking back, had His hand on me in a very profound way, and was directing my path into something I so desperately yearned for but didn’t know how or where to get it. This call was a call to greatness.
When I was in 6th grade I remember going to religious classes and I was the kid who would always participate in class. I would leave class not knowing why I was so drawn to the things we were talking about. There was a deep stirring in my heart, and that is the first time I felt the Holy Ghost prompting and gently nudging my heart to this call.
Fast forward a little bit into my first few years of High School: these were pretty tough years for me and my journey with the Lord. I was a 4-sport athlete in High School with dreams to one day compete collegiately as a Division I athlete. I ran track, played football, wrestled, and played baseball for 2 years. Soon after I got into High School, a huge wrench thrown into my plans. I ended up having 2 surgeries, a shoulder surgery, and hip surgery my sophomore year of high school which threw me for a loop. My question to God was, “Why have you given me these gifts to just let them go to waste? Why won’t you just let me compete?”. This went on and on... until I decided to go on a Steubenville retreat that same year in St. Paul, Mn. I went to the retreat expecting to get answers for my injuries and what I got was not at all what I was expecting. We had adoration that night and the Lord spoke to my heart in a very profound, but simple way saying, “Graeson, everything is going to be okay.”. These words pierced my heart and immediately I was overcome with peace, joy, and His love.
This wasn’t the end...
Fast forward to senior year, I was making decisions on where to go to college, and I knew that I was either going to go towards Him or away. I decided to walk-on as a wrestler at Northern Illinois University, a small Division I school, and pursue my dreams of competing at a high level. I got there and after I signed I remember my family asking me, “Graeson, how do you feel now that you are signed?”, I replied with a very fake smile saying something along the lines of, “Yeah I am pretty excited.” In reality I knew the Lord was doing something in my heart. I told the Lord that if this didn’t work out, He could finally have me... Well, 2 weeks into pre season, I tore my shoulder for the second time, and was needing to have a second surgery. I ended up leaving NIU that semester and heading back home with full knowledge of what I spoke to the Lord at that lunch table. I got home and I took off in a dead sprint... In the opposite direction.
I ran, and spent 2 years in the party scene in Iowa City and around the state of Iowa. I took a year off of school and worked on a local farm. During this time, I felt like I needed to test the military route as well. I got cleared and swore into a DEP program (Delayed Entry Processing). My job I was going for was Air Force Para-Rescue, and so I started testing, training, and preparing to leave. I trained 6 months, testing at the local test site and was supposed to leave three times. The first leave date, I couldn’t go because I fractured my knee on the farm. The second date, I fractured my back, and the third leave date was my brothers wedding. A week before I was to sign my contract with them, the Lord spoke very clearly where I was to go. I sat in the Church and He spoke very clearly to my heart, “Graeson, I am calling you into a more real battle, ‘not against flesh and blood but against principalities’ and darkness, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 6.
After some very difficult conversations, I knew exactly what He was asking me to do, I was to go study Him. He then called me into Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas to start studying theology and to fall more deeply in love with Him. On my way up to Benedictine, I met a man who is now my Spiritual Director. He prayed over me and I received an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. At that moment I gave over my whole life, it was an act of total surrender and I knew my life would never be the same. The Lord freed me of an 9-year pornography addiction over 2 years ago and now I get to go around speaking on the beauty of Theology of The Body and the truth of our sexuality. There was truly a glorification and a resurrection into new life.
I am now at Benedictine College finishing up my senior year and getting ready to launch from this beautiful place. I was blessed in being a ministry leader for Theology of the Body outreach on campus, and now I get to travel and speak on these beautiful topics. The Lord is moving in great power in my life, and I am on a journey with Him everyday. I am “running the race” (1 Cor 9:24) and endeavoring on this great adventure with Him.