Cathy Semeria shares the story of her “spark in the dark”

Tatum Beckwith, Reporter| October 17, 2018

Cathy Semeria holds up a slip of paper with quotes her daughter thought everyone should know and a link for Christina’s song. Christina wrote a song called “Be Still,” and Semeria handed out cards with the link to the video.

At the Fish Club meeting on October 5, Cathy Semeria told the story of her daughter Christina. Semeria emphasized her daughter’s faith in God. She shared every detail about Christina, whose nickname was Tini.

“Her passion was to lead the lost and the hopeless,” Semeria said. “She had eyes like the Lord and wanted everybody to know who Jesus Christ was. She wanted everyone to know they were loved unconditional[ly] by a God that would never leave them. She wanted to be the spark in the dark.”

Tini shared her faith at school and led the worship band at her church’s youth program called Rise. The band stayed together through high school and into college. The band consisted of Tini and five other students who wanted to lead their youth program in worshiping God.

“Tini would tell me that she never wanted it to be about her; she never wanted anyone to look at her while leading worship,” Semeria said. “She was so worried that people would focus on her instead of God.”

Tini would talk to people at school and would ask to pray over them. She looked for people who looked lost or like they did not belong. Christina did not want to belong to just one group; she wanted everyone to feel included and wanted to make sure everyone knew the love of the God she worshiped.

Semeria tells the story of her daughter’s passion for the praise band she started for their youth program at church. She played Christina’s song at the end of the meeting with a slideshow of Christina and her friends that passed away in a car crash.

After graduating high school, Christina attended the University of Georgia on the Zell Miller scholarship, and she joined a sorority. At the end of her sophomore year, she and her best friends decided they wanted to pray off-campus before studying. They laughed, danced, and praised Jesus that night.

When they finished their prayers, they got in their car and headed back to campus. All of a sudden, the driver lost control of the car, and they were in a head-on collision. On April 27, 2016, Tini and her three best friends died in that car crash.

“I’m not going to lie,” Semeria said. “This was the most difficult 29 months of my life. You’re not supposed to lose your daughter as a mom, but I’m here to tell you my hope is not in the hope of this world. My hope is in the fact I know where Christina is. She is with our Lord and savior for eternity, and I will be with her again one day.”