So here’s to a beginning. I have been wanting to write for a while but haven’t been able to pull together the words as to all that I have been feeling and learning. It has been on my heart to share some of my experiences that have truly shaped me to be the person I am. It has pressed on me to share about some of my darkest times and how I was carried through. This blog is dedicated to the Lord, the very one who carries my world.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

New York Adventures




She began her schooling in a small school in upstate New York called Roberts Wesleyan College. And as they dropped her off, a full eight hours from home and drove away, she felt as if something within her had died. She knew it was ‘normal’ to feel that way, but her reaction surprised her. She felt a searing ache inside her. A cold chill went through her for fear of the unknown in the days ahead.  She had never known life without them. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know life without them. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure she could do this.
Then two hours went by.

And she made four new friends.

Then two more hours went by.

And she had made five more friends.

 

Her tears quickly faded with her new found friendships. She began to notice an inner excitement for what the days ahead would hold. She had high hopes for a future, possessing plenty of drive and determined to make her mark. She was driven by the example she had seen within the walls of that raggedy old raised ranch. She wanted to love. She wanted to love in a big way.  For the first time, she felt something within her come alive. She felt the possibilities were endless, and she began to dive into every opportunity she could get her hands on.
She enrolled in the pre-medical program as a biology major with high hopes of becoming a doctor. She began volunteering at the Salvation Army soup kitchen. She joined Senate. She joined a soccer league. She started a co-ed volleyball league. She even took a trip across the globe to Kenya to work with a missionary thoracic surgeon. To her, life’s possibilities were endless, and every door seemed to be opening before her.

For the first time, she felt like she belonged. She was so thankful for her new found friendships. She found it so fulfilling to meet many different kinds of people, all from different places with different stories.

The awkward girl slowly began to realize that she wasn’t quite so awkward. Don’t get me wrong here. She still had her moments. For instance the time when she electrocuted herself in her college physics lab in front of the entire class AND her crush. Slightly devastating.

Or the time when she wiped out on a sheet of ice on her back in front of the window by the cafeteria FILLED with students. Less than graceful.
Or on the very first day of classes, when she was helping her friend unpack her car trunk. She had her hands full of bags only to realize neither of them were holding the trunk open, and down it came. On her nose. Giving her two black eyes and a black and blue nose for her very first day.

Okay, perhaps the awkward girl was still every bit as awkward. Perhaps it was that she was for the first time coming to know herself. And to her surprise, she liked what she found, even the awkward parts.

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