Josiah Road

College

posted by Sarah Gallagher 13Oct

A couple weeks ago I packed our van full of boxes, suitcases, a bike, and my guitar and headed off for the great adventure known as college. Move-in day was the epitome of chaos, but Belmont had a great system in which volunteers moved all your boxes and “stuff” to your room for you, so getting everything off the curb and into the dorm took no time at all. As night fell and chaos loosened into a milder frenzy, mom and dad said their goodbyes and pulled away.

There I was left to a weekend of activities reminiscent of every summer camp I have ever been to. It was clear that intensive planning was the foundation for the various activities we were engaged in for the four days leading up to the start of classes. So far, college was a hunky-dory picture. Free food, good fun, late nights, no studies. But then my new reality set in as I rolled out of bed one morning and realized that my classes awaited me. College is something that I have been looking forward to for a while. Some say your high school years are the best four years of your life but I prefer to think that, in terms of schooling, college trumps high school in terms of excitement and meaning. So with this picture in mind, I was ready to dive into four years of fun. But guess what? Studying is actually a big deal in college. Fifty minute classes don’t mean that only 50 minutes of your day are devoted to one class. Studying is a constant and time management a necessity.

All of this new information has the tendency to become overwhelming. However, so far I have not been overwhelmed by the material as much as by trying to establish a new routine. Just when I had my groove down with study patterns and bedtime and meals and showers (oh gosh…don’t get me started on the showers) I relocated along with about 900 of my peers and was forced to come up with a new strategy for each. Pretty soon the campus became stifling and though I loved meeting people and hanging out and having random fun, it became too distracting and I just had to get away.

I got in my car and packed up my books and my Bible and found a café in which I could study and collect my thoughts. I reached into my bag and found the book Captivating and eagerly began to read. The chapter told me of God’s overwhelming love and pursuit of me as an individual. It revealed that, just as I have a special place in our heart for God, God has a special place in His heart for me. This realization was so refreshing that I just began to cry, letting loose the whirling emotions surrounding my recent move. I was overjoyed that God would reveal Himself to me and encourage me that He was always near and ready to embrace me.

As I began to close the book, I saw something stuck in the pages of the book. Flipping to it, I found a note from a woman at my church who gave me the book before I left. I was astonished. I had taken this book to Colorado, I had taken it with me in the move, it had lain on my dresser and never had I seen the note nor had it fallen out. I felt like God was speaking to me through this person and telling me that He loved me and wanted to walk with me through this exciting and tumultuous chapter in my life. He allowed me to find her note at just the right time. Do you ever feel like you are in the middle of something confusing or unfamiliar and you long for a familiar face? Look to the face of Christ because I guarantee you He is longing to catch your eye and tell you how much He loves you. He is a great God and blesses us immensely.