Dazed (Days?)

Today was the last day of my freshman year at Virginia Tech. It's very surreal.

I left for home today without saying goodbye to many people, which was also kind of weird. It's not that I'm not going to miss them, but I was so ready to be home that all my focus was put into getting on that bus instead of my friends.

Well, I'm realizing that eventually I'm going to get homesick for Blacksburg. I'm really going to miss my friends. And quite frankly, although in my case I really do miss my friends back home, college kids are just sort of out of place in the summer when they go home.  The people we go back to see are still living their lives, and we just kind of have to piddle around until we get to do something (those of us without jobs, anyway).

Part of me is just kind of like, well God will do what He wants, so there's no use stressing over anything because it's summer and it's whatever.

Enough about that.

I have had one heck of a first year. Crazy, really. But crazy awesome.

It's going to be really hard to describe the whole thing in one post, so I'll just leave it at this: God is growing me in faith, in love, in hope, in endurance, in perspective, in the Word, in community, in forgiveness, in trust, and in truth.

I never imagined that after one semester in college I would become a part of leadership at the BCM. I never imagined I would make so many friends. I never dreamed that I would become so convicted of all the wrong in my life that all I could see was that I needed to get back to God.  I never understood the concept of love - of godly love.  I didn't have an eternal perspective.

Fun fact: when I got to college, I was like "I'm gonna make all friends who are in my year so we can always be together so I don't have to get sad when they graduate or when I graduate."And... that worked pretty well for me until about March. Now I'm sad. But the funny thing about God, is that He completely answered my prayer to make friends, and in regards to making close friends who were my age. It's not that He said no (because God isn't really a 'yes or no' kind of god) because I made so many friends through a Freshman and Transfer program the BCM has.  God gave me a friend who, even though she's graduating, has held me accountable, challenged me, loved me, grown me, more in the last 2 months than I think anybody ever has in my life.  God's funny that way.  And now that graduation is in like 3 days, I'm not as depressed as I was during my high school graduation with having to leave everyone.

One important thing I learned this year also about "forever friends" - they're not earthly.  I've heard it defined before something like "friends like that can go years without speaking and instantly pick up where they left off." That is completely the wrong idea.  A true friend should always be holding you accountable to God and the Word, directing you to Christ, and when that's the case you become "forever friends" because even if your friendship on earth is short-lived, God planned it for His purpose and His Kingdom, and you'll get to see your friend(s) again in Heaven where everyone is friends/family and you'll get to worship God together forever! Those are the kinds of "forever friends" I want to have. And by jove I do believe I have some/have made some.

College.  This has been the craziest year of my life. But also the most wonderful.  I'm already excited for August.  After my brain and fingers rest a little.

I think this'll be a good anthem for the summer: Garden by: NEEDTOBREATHE