High school valedictorian who gave faith-filled speech reveals motivation: ‘Jesus told me to write that'

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SC valedictorian draws applause, goes viral for speech about faith amid hardship

Lydia Owens, a high school valedictorian in South Carolina, has gone viral for a speech detailing how she learned to find her value in her faith amid recent hardships in her life. (WHNS)

Lydia Owens, a South Carolina public high school class president and valedictorian, stepped out in faith while addressing her classmates in her commencement speech — and her words of Christian belief quickly went viral. (SEE part of the speech in the video at top of this article.)

Owens, 18, recently graduated from Woodmont High School in Piedmont, South Carolina. She told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview that she found out right after Christmas that she was "kind of in the running for class valedictorian."

After her first semester of senior year, it was solidified, she said. 

She said she "debated for a long time … how to approach talking about my faith in my speech."

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She told Fox News Digital, "I definitely always knew that I wanted to [speak about faith], because my faith is who I am. It's the center of my life, so I knew that I wanted to mention it, but I didn't know how to do that."

It wasn't until a conversation Owens had with some friends that she decided to say what she did.

"I was talking about how I was a little worried about how people would respond to me talking about my faith, but I told my friends that I really wanted to talk more about Jesus in my speech."

Lydia Owens, above, valedictorian and senior class president at Woodmont High School in Piedmont, South Carolina, told graduation attendees and her fellow graduates that her faith sustained her in recent hardships in her life. (FOX Carolina)

Owens said that her friends responded, "Well, why wouldn't you? You know, aren’t we supposed to be bold in our faith? And when are you going to have another opportunity to speak in front of thousands of people?"

She continued, "Actually, when they told me that, I was like, ‘You know, that's a really good point. Why would I not?’"

Owens went home that night and "scratched my entire rough draft of what I thought I wanted to talk about in my speech."

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She also said, "And I just sat there and I prayed, and I was like, ‘Jesus, you just speak through me. Let this be exactly what you want to say, not what I want to say.’"

She added, "And I truly believe that's what he did. I don't think those were my words — I didn't come up with that. Jesus told me to write that and I just followed what he told me to do."

"God promises that his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness."

In her speech, she told her classmates, in part, "No matter what your future holds, please remember that life is so much more than how successful you are. Even if you accomplish all of your dreams or none of them at all, you are still valuable and still good enough, because you are made in the image of God."

Owens also said in her speech, "You don’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll be successful because God promises that his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness."

Owens' mother died two years ago, she said. Her mom, she said, was "an ideal example to me of how to live our Christian faith."

Lydia Owens said her mother "loved everyone intentionally" and would "go out of her way to talk to people about Jesus." (FOX Carolina)

She said of her mom’s passing, "It's so, so difficult. It's only been two years, and so it's definitely still a pretty fresh wound."

Owens noted that she and her family "take each day as we as we can, and we talk about it and we're still working through it. We're a lot better than we were."

She added of her mother, "She loved everyone so intentionally and would always go out of her way to talk to people about Jesus."

"OK, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. God is doing this."

Owens continued, "She was so active in our church and in our community and in my school. She was just constantly thinking to bring others to Jesus."

Said Owens, "That was so inspiring for me, growing up. I always wanted to be like my mom. I always wanted to have the heart that my mom had. She definitely is a huge reason I have such a strong faith."

Owens’ friends were proud of her after her speech, she said. 

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Noting that she sometimes struggles with "confidence and my ability to do things," she said her classmates’ rousing applause and positive reactions were "incredible."

"People around me were crying," she said, "and then my friends are like, ‘They don't know who you are, but I get to know who you are.’"

Her friends were "very encouraging, very supportive, and it was very comforting."

Through her valedictorian speech, Owens' brother was "able to have a gospel conversation with his co-workers," she said. (iStock)

Owens has one younger brother and two older brothers, she said. She also has her dad, who was "very excited, very emotional, very proud of me."

Owens’ oldest brother, Gideon, is married and lives in North Carolina, and could not get time off from work to see her graduate, she said. 

"So they watched it online. And immediately after the livestream, he texted me and said, ‘I watched this with all my coworkers at work, and they all came over to watch. And most of them are not believers.’"

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She added, "Because I talked about my faith in my speech, my brother said his coworkers were asking questions about God."

"I just don't think that anyone would regret having a relationship with Jesus, and I hope people can really understand that."

Through her valedictorian speech, she was "able to have a gospel conversation with his coworkers," she said.

"I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that's incredible.’" 

During the beginning of her speech, which centered around her Christian faith, people erupted in applause — which she was "not expecting at all," she said.

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"As soon as that happened, I was like, ‘OK, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. God is doing this.'"

With the crowd encouraging her, she "just kept talking," she said. 

If people are feeling lost and unsatisfied, they "will not lose anything by trying to find Jesus," said Owens (not pictured) to Fox News Digital.  (iStock)

"The second time I mentioned Jesus again, they rushed to their phones [to record the speech], and I was thinking, ‘This is not what I was expecting in the middle of my graduation speech — because of Jesus — in a public place, a public school, in front of thousands of people."

She continued, "Everyone erupted in applause because I was telling them about Jesus. That was just so encouraging to know that God was moving and he was the reason I kept going through that speech."

"I just don't think that anyone would regret having a relationship with Jesus."

Regarding her classmates — or anyone — looking into faith, Owens said, "I would say: What do you have to lose? If you do, and you don't get anything from it, all you lost was maybe some time."

She also said, "I think that everyone in our world and in our society is encouraged to find satisfaction on social media, and in what they accomplish and what they do and how successful they are."

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She added, "I kind of talked about this in my speech. If they're feeling lost and unsatisfied, I don't think that they will lose anything by trying to find Jesus."

The young woman noted that this can be done in many ways. 

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Even on social media, she said, there are "people who follow Jesus intentionally."

Owens, who will head to college in the fall and is planning to major in elementary education, added, "I just don't think that anyone would regret having a relationship with Jesus — and I hope people can really understand that."