joyful + faithful

I am joyful.

School is finally out yeeeeeeeee! Well at least for me and my Bama friends, but I know most everyone else is still in school for another couple of weeks (sorry friends). I cannot express how relieving it is to be home on summer vacation. Knowing I don’t have anything pressing to do, any classes to go to, or any need to get out of bed anytime before noon if I don’t want to is quite a joy. (Don’t worry I’m not sleeping until noon everyday Mom…)

Naturally, the end of my freshman year of college has caused me to do a lot of reflecting on all that has happened in the past 9 months. What an adventure it has been! In all my physical and emotional preparations for school, never could I have imagined how wonderful, though sometimes trying, this year would be. The amount of things I learned both in and out of the classroom is truly incredible, and I am so thankful for my first year at Alabama. So I wanted to use today to recount some of the biggest things I learned this year!

1.     Fears

Moving almost 1000 miles away from home was exciting and new and interesting, but was also accompanied with a lot of different fears. Going to college meant being a 15 hour drive, or 2 flights, away from my family. It meant not knowing a single person that I would be going to school with, or even the people I was living with. I knew very little about the town where my school is, very little about the social sphere (ultimately being the Greek life that I chose to be apart of), and very little about how my education would play out. No matter where you go to college, you ultimately walk in blind as a freshman, just like you did on your first day of elementary school and your first day of highschool; really, your first day of anything. Will I make friends? Will school be hard? How will I get involved? What if I should have gone somewhere else? What if I miss my family too much? What if I can’t stick it out? The surfacing of these fears was probably entirely natural, but was really just an evidence of a lack of faith in my Heavenly Father and his promise to provide for me. Thankfully, all of my fears were silenced throughout the year as God worked in my life.

2.    Friendship

Never in a million years did I expect to make the kind of friends I did!! In highschool, I knew a lot of people, but had a relatively small circle of close friends. Not to mention I have relatively few girl friends, and joining a sorority in college meant being surrounded by girls 24/7/ But I could not be more thankful for the people that the Lord brought to me.  He gave me accountability partners, encouragers, like-minds, followers of the Word, and people who constantly surrounded me with the love of Christ. I was able to find friends in all kinds of places: my sorority, church, student government, my classes, you name it. I think the best way to make friendships in a new place is to have an open mind and an open heart. I couldn’t afford to be afraid to meet people because I had no one else to lean on, but it grew me in ways that I don’t think I would have grown anywhere else. Praise God for providing life partners whom we can walk with to better the Kingdom!

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” –Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

3.    Fellowship

I knew when I moved to Tuscaloosa that I wanted to get involved with a church right away. What I didn’t know is that it would take some time to figure out where God wanted to use me. After attending several different campuses in my first semester, I really settled down at one church in particular for the spring, an I found such a home there! In addition to church fellowship, I was able to get involved with an on campus ministry for students, which a lot of my friends also attended. I also found a loving group of Godly women in my sorority, and was able to do a Bible study with them throughout the year and serve as chaplain. The Bible constantly points us toward community and fellowship with one another, and I am grateful to have found safe places to follow his will.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” –Hebrews 10:24-25

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” –Romans 12:4-5

      “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” –Proverbs 27:17

4.   Faithfulness

Ultimately, these other 3 things only point to this one: God is so faithful. Despite my fears, God provided me with friendship and a loving community that nurtured my faith in him and lifted my spirits when I was down. Let me tell you, college is no cake walk. It is not all fun and games, it is not all smiles and happy Instagram photos. Things can get tough: emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally, every way you can imagine. I went through seasons of wondering why God was doing what he was doing, wondering how I was going to keep going. And in every season, he was faithful. Coming to college meant really making my faith my own. Without my parents here to take me to church, and without my God-fearing friends from home to hold me accountable, I had easy copout not to continue in my faith journey. But I know without a doubt that I would not have made it without him. He provided for me, comforted me, led me through trials and uncertainties, and never left me alone. My intimacy with God this year was like an entirely new relationship with him because it was such a time of really understanding what it is to need him. How blessed we are to have a Savior who provides for us and understands us in every season of life.

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is a the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” –Deuteronomy 7:9

What an incredible year it has been! I am so incredible grateful for everything that I have been able to experience, but mostly for my incredible God who has made it all possible. Can’t wait to return in the fall and continue the work that God has already begun.

Father, all I have to give you is my undying love and gratitude for you. Thank you for providing for me, for giving me what I needed and not always what I wanted. Thank you for loving me, even when I failed to be faithful to you. Thank you for pursuing me daily. I love you and cannot wait for what the future holds.