By Sara Israelsen-Hartley, Deseret News National Modified: April 19, 2014 at 11:41 am Published: April 19, 2014

Hunched over her dining room table in a dark apartment, Danielle Walker sobbed into her hands.

For a while, the drinking and late-night partying had felt liberating. As a 20-year-old who left behind her parents' house and the rules of her Baptist upbringing, Walker was euphoric as she explored the real world.

But after five months, her first real relationship ended, her self-esteem crumbled and she realized she was drinking for medication, not recreation. Counseling didn't help and she'd often spend days on her couch, lost in a spiral of negative thoughts.

Reflecting on this that March night, she slipped from the chair to her knees.

" 'You know what, God, she cried. You have to do something. You have to save me.' And that's when everything started to change in my life."

Over the next year, Walker who left church, fed up with its rules and less-than-friendly peers embarked on a relationship with God stronger and more life-changing than anything she had experienced as a child.

"I would never have thought that by turning my life around I'd have such a positive outlook on life and feel so motivated," the 23-year-old said. "Now that I do have a relationship with God, I see how good it is."

For several years, the United States has seen a decline in religious affiliation. Currently, 20 percent of Americans don't claim a particular religion or church up from 15 percent just five years ago. Some worry that this shift into secularism will turn the United States into Western Europe.

Yet others are more optimistic. They point out that polling data don't always allow for a nuanced discussion of faith and spirituality, and that many individuals still want to have a relationship with God, albeit on their own terms and with their own timing.

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Seeking God: an ancient connection in a new context