By Jaden Jennings, Contributing Writer

Jillian Murphy is a full-time student, dancer, social club member, women’s ministry speaker and published author (see previous Bison).

On top of all of her activities and accomplishments, Murphy is a genuinely kind person—and has used that kindness to change lives.

“Initially I was an intern at a women’s safe house, and a lot of them had a really rough background,” she said.

“I just had a heart for women [who were hurting] and wanted them to know what Jesus could do for them right where they were at. That is basically the reason I started writing.”

Murphy has impacted and influenced many people in her short time here on Bison Hill; freshman student Paige Noruk said Murphy is a good friend and skillful advisor.

“Jillian is one of my best friends,” Noruk said. “She is the person I will always go to if I have had a bad day or just need someone to sit with or talk to. We can always pour into each other and talk about little things together, but also, we can talk about God together. I am just really thankful.”

Murphy has formed many relationships at OBU, but she is also very serious about her grades and academics. Because she is a nursing major, she said she believes heavily in the power of time management.

“Doing what I do is rewarding, but I also have to have good time management because of the field I am in,” Murphy said.

“Nursing is just a time-consuming major and I spend a lot of time studying. Also, I am on Pom here and I love it, but that takes up time too.  It is just important to schedule things so I can love everything I do and have a sincere purpose for it.”

Murphy and her family currently reside in Frisco, Texas.

Her mother though, was originally born and raised in Oklahoma where she attended the University of Oklahoma. Murphy said even though she loves Texas, she wanted to see what the state of Oklahoma was all about, and she is glad that she did.

“Shawnee is really small and family-oriented,” Murphy said.

“They have poured into me extremely. For example, OBU [PR and Bison] wrote an article about me, the Shawnee News star wrote an article about me and the Living Word Christian bookstore in the Shawnee mall let me have a book signing there,” she said.

“This town has just been so supportive of me. I have also have had the opportunity to do a book signing in Norman at Barnes and Noble.”

Although Murphy has already published one book, she said she believes that God is not done with her writing skills.

She is currently working on two other books at this time, both of which are being released this year.

“The second book comes out in April,” Murphy said.

“It is a co-author[ed] project written by many different successful people. Each person writes a chapter about their faith and relationship with God, and mine is about the power of prayer. This is just my portion of the book, but it is everything that God is teaching us individually,” she said.

“The title is yet to be released. My own personal book comes out July 30th.  It is titled ‘This Is Why,’ and it is about how God can use you and you can find Him in every circumstance, whether good or bad. I am using my life circumstances and how God has used purpose and hope through it all.”

You can check out Murphy’s new upcoming books soon and follow her at Radiant Ministries on Facebook,