Jasmine Jacques: I hear that you are very in touch with your religion, can you tell me about that?

Liliana Duran: Okay, so I became saved when I was a sophomore. So what that means was Jesus, I chose him, and I claimed Him as my Lord and Savior from what my life was before, when I didn’t know him, and then coming into Christianity just means that I’m a disciple now, which means I live out the will of Jesus, which is spreading the love of God and forgiveness of God, and spreading the good gospel.

JJ: What is it like being part of the Alive Club?

LD: So I am the president of the Alive club, so it’s a faith based club, actually today we already met during lunch. We meet every Wednesday in either T5 or T6 and we’re sponsored by the Joy company, and that means we always have food for students there. All I do is we either Evangelize, which is going out on campus and telling people of the good Lord, or, like, today, I give them a message, of what God put in my heart to tell them.

JJ: What do you think was the biggest impact on your life caused by that change in perspective?

LD: I think the biggest impact that the Lord had on me was he made me realize that if he was going to change me, that it was going to be my job, my blessing, to be able to help others change as well. Because he said, now that I’ve shown you this, you can’t just keep it to yourself. you have to show others, your brothers and sisters. So, he is truly my role model. He is truly someone who influenced me to be better.

JJ: Why do you believe being part of athletics is important for students?

LD: I would because, I was just talking about this the other day with my sister, actually. I was like, I think everyone should be in athletics, because it shows them how to be stronger and more disciplined, not only physically, but also mentally. Other people think it’s just physical obedience, but it’s also mental obedience. And so I would just love for everyone to have that opportunity. 

JJ: What are your main goals when approaching your day-to-day life?

LD: My main goals are to be organized, to hit all my goals like waking up early, being able to work out before school and pray before school, having that time with God at the top of my day, because that is who I’m living for. That is the only reason why I have a day today to live. You know, I couldn’t have woken up without him. So my goal every day, my biggest one, is to spread the love of God and his word.

JJ: What do you think are the biggest challenges facing young people today?

LD: The biggest challenge facing young people today is that we’re so easily influenced by the people we hang out with. Like you’ve heard that quote, “You are who you hang out with,” and that is so completely true. It’s so easy to get lost in the way of the world these days, because we’re just so conditioned that this is the norm. But it’s actually not, coming from a person who’s a believer, it says in the Bible how God made it to be. And I just want people to know how it’s supposed to be, because everybody’s wondering why they’re so broken and so depressed. And I’m like, because what you guys are doing is not normal and what you guys are not doing is normal.

JJ: If there was someone who reached out to you for help, who couldn’t find guidance, how would you help them? 

LD: I would sit down and I would talk to them. I would find a quiet place for us to talk. I really love helping people, because when I was growing up, I have a really strong testimony of just being in a household where it was mentally abusive, and it was very neglectful, physically and mentally and I just want to be that type of person who I wanted to have there for me when I was younger. So I would just talk that person through it, be their friend, be their mentor, and continue to do that. Being consistent with those relationships is important when it comes to helping people.

JJ: What kind of advice would you give your younger self, who maybe didn’t find that guidance yet?

LD: Don’t listen to the world or what the world has to say, listen to who God tells you you are. Are you gonna put the words of the world above the Creator? Are you gonna worship the creator’s actual facts about you because he’s the one who made you? That’s what I would say for my younger self.

JJ: Who do you think are some of the most important people in your life? 

LD: Jesus Christ, because he’s the one who leads me to good. I think that a lot of people would answer this question with a celebrity or their parents? I love my parents so much, of course I do, but you know, Jesus comes first in my life, because without him, I wouldn’t have parents to love.

JJ: I noticed you have a very positive outlook. How would you kind of encourage people to also seek positivity?

LD: I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s really hard to seek positivity in this day and age, because on social media, we just want to compare ourselves. It’s instant gratification. It’s like when we see someone who has something and we don’t have it, we start to compare ourselves. And I would say comparison is the biggest killer of joy. So don’t compare yourself. Focus on yourself and focus on enjoying life, even if it’s bad, because we have blessings that we take for granted every day, and this positive energy that I bring doesn’t derive from me. It derives from Jesus. You know, that’s him speaking through me to you directly. I would just say, seek him first before anyone’s opinion.

JJ: What do you plan to do after graduating? 

LD: I used to believe that all I was going to do was go to the Air Force and become an Air Force officer, just more because I thought it was cool. I still think it’s cool, but being in ROTC for this coming fourth year, I think I still will do that. However, God has changed my plans in the way I thought about my occupation. I don’t want to just be an Air Force officer. I want to be someone who continues to share the Word of God everywhere, globally, not just here. So he definitely encourages me to do missionaries after high school, definitely want to do that, and then become a minister.

JJ: Why do you think this career path is important to you?

LD: It is so important to me because God’s important to me, and I really, really want to continue living out his work every day. I’m not someone whose faith is silent. My faith is really loud, and it used to be silent just because I was more shy, but now that I’m more confident in God and in myself, I just can’t hold it in anymore. So, I need something that will allow me to express that. I already love helping people, I always have, but now I get to help people on a higher level, a spiritual level.

JJ: Why do you think you should win Miss Cardinal?

LD: I think I should win Miss Cardinal because I know I’d be a good leader. I wouldn’t be leading people just by myself, but I have a leader with me. I would lead those people to God, so that he can lead them forever, even when I’m not here. So, if I were to win, God would be able to win so many souls over. It wouldn’t just be my win, it would be so many people’s wins.

JJ: What do you think makes you stand out compared to the other contestants?

LD: My faith, definitely my faith. It’s not something that I’m shy about, it’s something I’m very vocal about, something I’m very confident in. That’s where a lot of my love derives from because it’s God’s love, and I just want to show it to my brothers and sisters that are also competing. I want to help them get back on track, because I know that it’s so easy to get led astray. A lot of them are and that’s not good. But that is not to say that they’re not doing an amazing job because they are, they are working so hard. 

JJ: If you win, what improvements do you hope to make for not only campus, but for the community?

LD: Oh, my goodness, I hope to provide the community with a different perspective on life, because that’s what God provides everyone. I want to provide everyone a place where they feel no judgment, because actions first start with a person, and first to get to those actions, you need a mindset. So God would go down to us, to our hearts, to our mentality, so that our perspectives then change. So when our perspectives change, our actions change. So that they can go out and do their actions with a good intention.

JJ: What would you say are your strengths?

LD: I’m very good at empathy because, like I said, I am someone who cares a lot about just people in general and their well being. So when someone feels a really strong emotion, say, my friends are crying, then I’m probably gonna cry with them, because I feel them and I just want to help them. Also, I say being obedient. Obedience because it’s not something that comes easy. It’s definitely a muscle that needs to be grown. But I think that with everything that I am involved with, that muscle has grown a lot. So that’s another one. And kindness, kindness is a lot harder than people think, because to love someone, you need kindness. It’s a lot easier to hate someone, because it takes no strength to hate someone, but it takes a lot of strength to be kind and love someone.

JJ: What would you say are some of your weaknesses?

LD: In all honesty, sometimes it’s really hard for me to be vulnerable, and I think that comes with just everyone wanting to be right all the time. I’m still guilty of this, just because I’m a Christian now, or just because of my beliefs, it doesn’t mean I’m a perfect person, like we’re all natural born sinners. However, that doesn’t give us the right to do it more, but we’re always going to mess up. Also, patience. I am not the most patient person all the time. I have a certain schedule and certain times to do things, and if people aren’t with that, then it gets me a little bit frustrated, because then I don’t think they care as much as I do.

JJ: What do you feel most grateful about in your life?

LD: I would say, a good household. I know what it is to have a bad household and a good household. Like in my testimony, I mentioned a lot that I grew up in a mentally abusive household, and then I had that blessing, the opportunity to get removed from that household into a good one, where my parents gave me the love of God. I thought the love I had before, in my previous household was actual love, but it wasn’t until I experienced God’s love through this household, which is, correction. God’s love is correction. I wasn’t ever corrected in that neglectful household, but now that I am being cared for. I’m being corrected all the time, and sometimes it upsets me, because I’m like, am I not good enough? But it’s like, no, it’s that people who really love you will correct you.

JJ: If you could give out one message to the world, what would it be?

LD: People perish because of the lack of knowledge, and that goes back into Scripture that relates to God. Many people don’t know that they’re not actually living because so many people walk through life being spiritually dead, and they don’t know it. We sometimes think that we know what true love is, but we really don’t know until we’ve accepted and received the love of Jesus Christ. That’s what I mean by people perish because of the lack of knowledge of God, because through him, you can learn so much.

JJ: Is there anything you would like to add or share with people?

LD: I would say, remember that you’re not alone and that there’s always a community out there that really cares for you. And I say, if you are a new believer or don’t know about God and you have false assumptions about him, I would say, first, educate yourself before setting an opinion on him. I would say, give him a chance to transform you. I say, the term believing in God doesn’t just mean that you think he’s real, but that term means I believe that God has the ability to not only change my circumstances, but others. I’m just saying, give God a chance in your life.