It’s officially been a month since I have graduated from college! I cannot even begin to express how much I miss Nyack, New York and all of my friends, but being home has brought me joy in many ways as well. In the past month there has been so much to reflect on as I thought about the past five years of my life. Five years ago, when I was preparing to go to college, people told me that it would be amazing and now that I have closed that chapter, I can attest to it! College, if lived well, are some of the best years of schooling people will go through. After much reflection, I would summarize my 5 years of college with these 5 words, peace, grace, courage, joy, and faithfulness. Those have been some of the underlying themes of my 5 years at Nyack College and here’s why…
Peace
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27
Freshman year I was extremely uptight and restless. Most students tend to go out and take advantage of their freedom, but I stayed in my dorm room to do homework and study. My friends would invite me out, but I always said no because I was going to do school stuff. I would say I was busy, but let’s be real, I wasn’t truly that busy I just felt busy. I put so much pressure on myself to do well that it never seemed like I was doing enough. When doing my homework assignments and studying for my exams, I always felt anxious and nervous. It was not until my second semester that I learned to receive the Lord’s peace. I realized that if I worked to the best of my abilities then I should not worry because God knew the effort I was putting in. Ever since I received this truth I was able to relax more. God’s peace was something He exposed to me during my freshman year, but He continued to etch it onto my heart throughout the rest of my college years as different and more challenging circumstances started to arise.
Grace
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrew 4:16
During my sophomore year, the word that kept coming into mind was, grace. This school year was the very first time that I had ever taken on a leadership role and I realized quickly that I was extremely flawed and so was everyone else. There were many moments where I was disappointed in myself and hurt by the members that I served. I found myself sad and sometimes upset with other people, but one day a friend reminded me that I needed to give them grace. I paused for a moment and thought, “why?” At that moment, I thought I was the one who needed grace. I wanted other people to be understanding and compassionate about where I was coming from. I continued to ponder on the idea of grace and realized that I already had grace from God and He was calling me to give grace to others even if I did not receive it in return. I started to see people and situations differently. I learned to give grace to those who did not understand the situation, but would still criticize things. Besides extending grace to others, I learned to also give grace to myself. I was the hardest on myself so I had to learn to be kind when I did not feel like I was doing good enough. It was definitely a year of learning to receive God’s grace and then giving it to others and even myself.
Courage
“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” Pslam 27: 14
I am not someone who normally likes to confront others because confrontation was always scary. My junior year was probably one the years where God really challenged my relationships with others. I needed a lot of courage to confront certain people and situations that were going on and He provided me with just enough courage to do so. Some confrontations turned out better than others, but the Lord really gave me a spirit of courage to do what I needed to do to restore or let go of some of those relationships. Courage was also the theme for our women’s ministry that year and we focused on doing some things that would take us out of our comfort zone. The Lord calls us to be courageous in our faith and in our lives because we will face many situations where we need to be bold, firm, and strong. This particular year, God taught me how to be courageous and it’s something that He still continues to challenge me about as life decisions get harder and harder.
Joy
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
My senior year of college did not start off well, but it was a time in my life where God was teaching me about what it meant to have and live in His joy. God used the rest of the year to diligently and patiently show me what it meant to still have joy in my suffering and disappointments. In this year, I had a strong desire to know more about His joy and how I could live a life full of it. I even started to blog so I could document the joyful moments in my life because I did not want to forget how good God had been to me. I was truly learning to have a deep joy in my life that would give me hope when things were difficult and it also allowed me to celebrate the good things in my life. Receiving God’s joy helped me strive less and in turn have a greater understanding and appreciation for His work in my life.
Faithfulness
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is our faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
Throughout my time at Nyack God was faithful to me in so many ways. My super senior year was definitely filled with evidence of God’s continual faithfulness in my life. I was in a sticky situation because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to student teach in the spring because I didn’t pass all of my state exams, but God was faithful and allowed me to pass all of them on the first try. Once I passed all of my tests, I received news that I still might not be able to student teach and graduate because I had a course to take before student teaching. My only hope was that my professors would allow me to combine my practicum and student teaching courses. Praise God because they did allow it and my cooperating teacher was willing to have me in her class longer. I had also been busy this year working two part-time jobs and going to school full-time. Before I started spring semester I debated long and hard to see if I should quit one of my part-time jobs. I really did not want to because I did not feel financially secure, but God reminded me of how faithful He was to me before I even started working. I am thankful that I quit because spring semester was even busier as I was student teaching full-time, working part-time, and then going to night classes as well. There were many moments and situations where I was uncertain of how things would turn out, but God always pulled through. Something that always encouraged me during this final year was that God would finish the works that He started in me. I knew everything was going to be okay because of His consistent and never ending faithfulness in my life. It was amazing because during commencement there was a huge sign that hung across the stage saying, “Celebrating God’s faithfulness.” He was truly faithful to me throughout my whole time at Nyack and in the future I pray that I will be able to remember these moments when I need to be reminded of His faithfulness.
As I wrote this post, I was overwhelmed with the many things that occurred in such a short amount of time. I cannot simply share it all in a single blog post, but all I have to say is, I am such a different person from my 18 year old self. These past five years have challenged, stretched, and molded me in ways that built my character and confidence to whole a new level. During my time at school I believe God was preparing me for greater things to come. As I encounter future struggles I am sure these college issues will begin to pale in comparison, but it will also be these very trials that will remind me of God’s steadfast love for me. These stories will serve as a beautiful testimony of the work of God in my life as well. May you all be blessed and encouraged!
Side note: Congratulations to all who also graduated from college this year. I pray that you would all rise to the calling that God has been equipping you for. To the high school graduates, congratulations! Life is about to get really interesting. Praying this new chapter of our lives will be sweet and full of new opportunities.
