Senior year was an exciting stage of my life. I remember feeling so ready to grow up and get out into a new part of the world and explore all that God would have in store for me. I remember feeling so small, but so big at the same time. I remember the beginning of senior year feeling like there was no way I was old enough to be going off to college, and by the end of the school year when graduation hit, I could look in the mirror and see someone who was maybe almost old enough to embrace the college world. I know it is over-used to say this, but it feels like just yesterday that I was sitting by my grandparent's pool in New Jersey talking to my cousin Jason and hearing about Asbury for the first time. God told me that same day after a phone call that this was the school where he wanted me at - and he never stopped giving me more and more confirmation about just that.
Now, I am in the midst of week three of classes of my sophomore year. God has changed me in the last year and half, that's for sure. I walked on to campus here for the first time ever last August on move-in day. I had never seen the brick walls of Asbury's campus or even set foot in Kentucky until the week of intercultural freshman orientation. I remember the quick beating of my heart as I saw the sign for Wilmore and began to feel nervous and anxious about all that was before me. If you jump a couple months forward, you see me with my friends at dinner time laughing and squishing as close as possible at the round tables in the cafeteria as we try to fit as many people as possible. You see me and a couple of my closest girl friends talking and crying together until five in the morning about what God is doing in our lives. You see me frantically making shopping lists and calling and texting people for help to set up events that I planned for my committee on the Student Activities Board for Asbury Student Congress. You see me knowing where my classes are and talking about professors like I have known them for years. It was a quick transition from high school to college and as fun as it was, I do not wish to do it all over again.
I have loved my college experience so far. I have thrived off of the social interactions and community events on a college campus such as Asbury. I have slowly learned how to take advantage of the benefits of living in America for more than six weeks at a time. My friends have been sifted and shoved and bounced all over the place - and other friends have stuck loyally by my side and we have grown together immensely. God has done wonders in my life since arriving at Asbury a little over a year ago. He has carried me through a somewhat expected roommate change, He has guided my path through various leadership roles, and He has taught me how to appreciate the way my parents raised me even more than I ever realized. Most people go to college for an academic education, but I have gotten that and much, much more. I have gotten life lessons, forgiveness, trust, a stronger faith in God, incredible relationships, a thriving social environment, new passions ignited, gained interest in knowledge on topics that I did not even know would interest me, and a whole lot of culture change.
As I was approaching my graduation from high school I knew I was excited about what college would be like, but I can't say I could have predicted any of the things that I experienced over the last year. If you talked to me my junior year of high school you would have heard my whole speech about not wanting to go to college, not feeling a "need" to go "if I didn't even know what I wanted to do", and you would have heard me say that college is just "not my thing." But God had another plan up his sleeve, and He knew that I was not about to miss out on what Asbury had in store for me. He inspired me to go after Asbury and study PR. He lit my path in a way that I could not say no to it. It was too beautiful, it was too filled with God's promises, that I would have been a fool to say no. And I am so glad I said yes.
College can really change you a lot if you allow it to. And I don't think you can even prepare yourself for it - no matter how hard you try. But never let your plans for your life get in the way of seeing what plans God has for you when you're willing to let go of your own.
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