I've accepted an offer from Westmont College and I'm beyond thrilled! For those of you who know me (or if you've been reading this blog for a while), you know that I haven't always been excited about heading off to college. At one point I was 100% against it! I didn't want to move away from my family, my church, my comfort zone; however, over the summer I went to California to visit Westmont and Azusa Pacific University.
To say that I had a change of heart after that trip is an understatement...I can say with total certainty that I felt God show up. I've been a Christian for a long time, and I've felt God do amazing things in my life, but I have never felt the immediate sense of peace that I felt while walking the campus of Westmont College.
And while I am ecstatic about my future in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, I'm scared too. It is finally dawning on me that I am becoming an adult, and I'm going off on my own! Sometimes it is a little bit hard to feel excited about being pushed so far outside of my comfort zone, and I find myself sinking deep into sadness and pity...basically I wallow. It's kind of hard to admit, but there are times when I find myself wallowing in my own mess, and I forget to give it to God.
But isn't that what God tells us to do? Psalm 55:22 tells us to:
"Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out."
God is so ready and so willing to take our sorrow and our pain and our fear and what ever else we may be feeling. John tells us this,
"I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."
God didn't send His one and only son to earth so that I could stew in my own self-pity! He came so that I could have so much stinkin' joy! I'm not saying it's always easy to be joyful! Stuff happens...really gross, awful stuff, but God is always there. He's like our coach; we may make a bad play, or we may get hurt during a game and feel like life is just coming to a complete and utter stop, but he's there on the sidelines cheering us on! He's saying, "NO! I'm not letting you give up. I'm here. I'm your God. I'm your father. I'm your #1 fan."
As hard as it is to think of leaving my amazing family and equally amazing friends and my absolutely fabulous church, I've decided to choose joy. As much as I'll probably cry when the time comes for me to pack up and leave, I've decided to be joyful in the months that I'm HERE. As hard as it'll be making new friends in a new place, I've decided to be so content and so blessed for the time that I have NOW with my wonderful peeps. As much as I'll miss my church family, I'm so stoked to find a new church with a new "family."
My hope for YOU--today--is that you'll find your joy. The joy that God so deeply wants you to feel and cherish! I know that finding that happiness and joy may not be easy, but it is not just something that is going to suddenly pop up in your heart one day. You just have to choose it. Everyday you have to wake up and say, "gosh, today seems like the perfect day to be nothing but 100% joyful." Choose joy. Choose life. Don't wallow. Smile! It looks good on you!
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| If this doesn't look like pure joy then I don't know what to tell you! |
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