NATCHEZ — Twelve-year-old Damira McGruder knows that no matter what, you must always keep the faith.

McGruder, a seventh-grader at Morgantown Middle School, says one of the most important duties of a Christian is to praise God, even in times of adversity.

McGruder used that mindset to inspire her performance in the General Missionary Baptist State Oratorical Contest, where she placed second. The contest’s topic was “A Solid Witness for a Solid Savior.”

“You just have to have faith always,” she said. “Most children in my school, when something bad happens, they’ll just complain. But I say to them, ‘Just trust in the Lord, and he will pull you through it.’”

A “solid witness,” McGruder said, prays daily and is a reliable example for Christ.

“Being a true Christian means praising him not just when everything is good, but also when everything is bad,” she said.

McGruder’s mother, Terri

McGruder, said she is proud her daughter is solid example of a young Christian, especially in a world, she said, in which young people are not always accepting of their Christian peers.

“I’ve asked her, ‘Damira, do the other children say something to you when you talk about God?’” she said. “But she says they never do. I think she sends a message to other children that you can still have a spiritual upbringing and be accepted.

“When God has an anointing on children’s lives, those are the ones that other children will look up to.”

Terri said her daughter is involved at school with extracurricular activities, and her church activities and spiritual devotion bridges the gap between the academic and the spiritual.

McGruder hopes to eventually attend Harvard University and one day become an obstetrician.

McGruder is the daughter of Terri McGruder and Ricky McGruder.