A high school valedictorian in upstate South Carolina went viral for her graduation speech explaining how she learned to find value in her Christian faith. According to FOX Carolina, Lydia Owens, senior class president and valedictorian at Woodmont High School in Greenville, told graduation attendees how her faith sustained her amid hardships in her life.

In phone interview with Fox News Digital, Owens shared that she found out that she was in the running for class valedictorian after Christmas. She said it was solidified after the first semester of her senior year. For a while, she contemplated how she would discuss faith in her speech because it’s such a big part of her life. However, after a conversation with her friends, Owens decided to be bold.

She went home that night and scratched her entire rough draft of what she thought she wanted to talk about her my speech. 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.”

During the beginning of her speech, which focused on her Christian faith, people erupted in applause, which Owens said she didn’t expect. She said, “As soon as it happened, I was like, ‘Okay, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. God is doing this.” With the crowd’s encouragement, she kept talking.

Owens said, “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.

In her speech, Owens said, “No matter what your future holds, please remember that your 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 you are still good enough because you are made in the image of God.

Owens explained how her perspective shifted two years after her mother died, who she said was her biggest inspiration. She said, “I had that reality check almost two years ago when my mom passed away. When tragedy struck my life, it wasn’t my grades nor my success that helped me navigate through that loss. When everything else in my life felt uncertain, the only person I could depend on was Jesus.”

Owens added that her mother always pushed her to be her best self. She said, “She always encouraged me in my faith; she’s the reason that I had such a strong faith. She was the example to me of how to be a godly woman and how to love people intentionally.” Owens said she went through a difficult time in the wake of her mother’s death that afflicted her with doubts about God and His plan for her life.

She said, “I didn’t understand how God could use such a terrible tragedy in my life for His glory,” adding that her family and faith helped get her through the difficult time. Owens’ father, Brian, told FOX Carolina that after his wife passed away, he gathered his family and said he was not quite sure what they would do, “but whatever we’re going to do, we’re going to do it together.”

Owens told her graduating class that they “don’t have to worry about whether or not you will be successful.” She added to applause, “Because God promised that His grace is sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.”

After her speech, Owens said her friends were proud of her. Noting that she sometimes struggles with “confidence and my ability to do things,” she said her classmates’ rousing applause and positive reactions were “incredible.” She said, “People around me were crying, 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.”

Owens, who will head to college in the fall and plans 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.”