Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2015

He and Etchison also started dating. “That strengthened my resolve for the battle,” he said. “I wanted to do it not only for myself and for God, but I also didn’t want to let her down.” He might have escaped his spiritual slide without Etchison’s rebuke. But maybe not. “I could have skated through without Cedarville’s message gaining traction in my life,” he said. “My tires were just spinning. I was headed back to our family business after graduation where I would have to toe the line again. “Still, I would say that accountability is key. It’s easy to live a two-faced life when you are not transparent with someone who will speak the truth to you. I don’t know who that would have been if it wasn’t Layne.” English, CEO and President of Olde English Outfitters, joined the Cedarville University Board of Trustees in May 2015. HURTING HEALER Mueller was excited to attend Cedarville. “My brother had attended Cedarville,” she said. “I’d attended a Christian school my whole life, and there were a lot of people from my church who went to Cedarville. There was a long history there.” Her first two years were all that she had hoped. “I played JV volleyball freshman year,” she said. “I went on a missions trip sophomore year. I was involved and had a large friend group.” But an internal battle sidelined her. “My sophomore year into junior year, I started struggling with body image and an eating disorder,” she said. “It affected my whole life: My grades started to suffer; my friendships suffered; even my relationship with my family suffered.” She stepped away from Cedarville in the spring. “I took the semester off my third year for some intensive counseling at home,” Mueller explained. “I returned junior year, but I was still struggling.” Taking a semester off set Mueller back socially, as well as academically. “I lost some of my friend groups because they kept going and I was a year behind,” she said. “I became pretty secluded even though I lived on campus. It was by my own choice.” Her fifth and final year she lived off campus and the seclusion worsened. In spite of her withdrawal, close friends — Casey O’Neal ’06 and Julie (Martz) Anderson ’08 — and her adviser, Sharon (Klopfenstein) Christman ’92, never gave up on her. “Sharon met with me weekly to talk about nursing, but she’d ask me about life, too,” Mueller said. Christman asked tough questions and wouldn’t let her get away with easy answers. She was the mentor Mueller needed at that point in her life. She is also thankful for Angelia Mickle, currently the Interim Dean of the School of Nursing. “She really advocated for me in the nursing program.” By Mueller’s senior year, she had recovered academically, making the dean’s list. Despite her internal battles, God was using Cedarville people to help her begin to heal. After graduating in 2009, Mueller lived in the Cincinnati area two years, then moved to Dayton to work as a cardiovascular intensive care nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital. She lived with Cedarville alumni Devon ’95 and Beth (Irving) Berry ’93. “God used them to help me understand how to apply the Gospel to the way I saw my body,” Mueller said. “I wanted my body image and eating disorder to be gone. I missed the point that God was trying to use it to make me more like Himself. God didn’t look at my performance and equate that to my standing before Him.” In 2012, she married husband Trevor ’06, whom she’d met her fifth year at Cedarville. They live in Springboro, Ohio, and are expecting their first baby next year. Mueller finished her Master of Science in Nursing degree at Cedarville this summer. Although the seed planted underwent a harsh growing season, Mueller has experienced the fruit of her Cedarville experience. “I have a greater appreciation for Cedarville today due to God’s work in my heart,” she explained. And that’s a harvest worth celebrating. ClemBoyd is Managing Editor of Cedarville Magazine . “I was a fence walker who regularly jumped on the wrong side, but then I’d jump back on to look respectable again.” — Evan English ’88