The first big decision I made that found me seeking God’s will was what college to attend. I visited Bob Jones in July of 2011 with the plan to major in Textile Design, but after the visit I knew that university was not where the Lord wanted me because of the spiritual atmosphere on campus. During my senior year of high school (2011-2012) I took some online classes through Maranatha Baptist University. One of those classes was New Testament Survey, and while reading in Matthew for that class, I sensed the still small voice of God leading me to continue pursuing Him at Maranatha Baptist University. I loved learning academically and growing spiritually while at this university. God blessed me with many encouraging friends, and I became very involved in the student body, even to the point of being a society president during the first semester of my sophomore year. But due to lack of finances, I chose to sit out of my second semester of sophomore year to work.
The next year and a half of my life were the hardest I have experienced so far, but the Lord grew me so much! While working to be able to return to school, I realized I needed to have surgery on each of my feet to fully correct an issue I have had since birth. These surgeries kept me out of the 2013-2014 school year and it was hard to remain content. Only a few faithful friends kept in touch, and I remember telling my mother I felt like a ship without anchor, drifting through life without a clear purpose. With each surgery came 6-8 weeks of limited mobility, and this meant long hours at home, sitting and trying to keep myself occupied. However, what started as drudgery turned into delight as I began using the long hours of sitting to read God’s Word, to memorize passages of Scripture (one of my favorite passages during this time was Lamentations 3:22-26), and to read spiritually uplifting books (many of which were published through Striving Together Publications).
It would take too much space to list all the passages of Scripture that blessed me during this “waiting” stage of my life, but one verse that became my motto for planning of the future was 1 Corinthians 2:9 - “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I knew that God had a perfect plan for my life, and that He would show me what I needed to do on a “need-to-know” basis. I simply needed to follow Him, love Him with all my heart, and obey what He had already revealed to me to do. In March 2015, I began praying for three specific things that I learned from “Discover Your Destiny” by Cary Schmidt. Those three things were: (1) a serious mind, to make wise decisions (1 Cor. 13:11); (2) a pure heart, to understand and know God’s will when it was revealed (Matt. 5:8); and (3) a courageous spirit, to do whatever God revealed He wanted me to do, no matter where that lead (Joshua 1:6-9).
Ultimately these prayers gave me a surrendered heart to do whatever God had planned for me before He revealed that perfect will to me. I began looking into West Coast Baptist College for my younger sister who graduated high school in 2015, but ended up realizing that God was leading ME to attend this college. While I did not have a specific passage of Scripture that prompted me to make the decision to transfer schools, the decision came simply as a result of daily seeking God through His Word and knowing I wanted to serve Him with my life. West Coast Baptist College was the best college to attend in order to grow in my understanding of God, my understanding of why I believed what I believed, and my understanding of how to defend my faith. Little did I know the ministry mindset and spiritual atmosphere at WCBC would be exactly what I needed!
About a month before I left for college, the devil began throwing doubts my way about transferring and going so far away from home. But when I remembered that I had been asking God for a courageous spirit I knew He would be with me and give me the courage I needed to take this step of faith into the unknown (Eph. 6:10). I ended up still struggling the first couple of months at WCBC because it was so different than MBU. I tried not to compare their differences however, and sought to find my contentment in Christ. God reminded me that He was my delight, and that my highest degree of satisfaction could only be found in Him. He reminded me that He is my very best friend, He loves me, and He will show Himself to me in great ways when I obey Him (John 14:21).
Towards the end of my first year at WCBC, on April 14th, 2016 during chapel, I surrendered to be in the ministry full-time (in the past I had always told the Lord I would do whatever He wanted me to do, but had not felt Him leading me to the ministry until this day). The very next day after chapel, a young man named Daniel Booth asked me out to coffee. I agreed and greatly enjoyed getting to know Daniel as we spent time together almost every day after that until the end of the semester. He met my dad, who came to college to take me home at the end of the semester. We agreed to “just be friends” over the summer, and continued to talk every week, growing in appreciation of each other’s love for Jesus. The way these events played out still amazes me because God proved to me that surrender is what He wants most of all in every believer’s life. The whole semester I had struggled with being single, but when I finally surrendered this desire to Christ, realizing I was complete in Him, I found peace and contentment hard to describe. After this surrender, God allowed me to begin a relationship with someone who was also passionate about being satisfied with Christ alone, because we both knew that our joy could not rely on a fellow sinner, but instead it must rest on an unchanging God.
At the end of the summer of 2016, I visited Daniel and his family in Georgia, and agreed to “officially” become his girlfriend on August 18th. As we grew in love for each other during the next months at college, we both purposed to keep God #1, even though we realized this was harder than it sounded at times! In November 2016, I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Daniel, because of his love for Christ and his focus on the gospel. He constantly points me to Christ, and inspires me to grow more in love with Jesus while cultivating a passionate study of His Word. In December 2016, Daniel came home with me for part of Christmas break and asked me to marry him on December 18th. I happily agreed, and since that time the Lord has given me Titus 2 as a reminder why Daniel is the man I want to marry. Daniel follows the biblical pattern of what a godly young man should be, and I look forward to our future serving Christ together!
***This was written for one of my classes at WCBC, Counseling Youth Conflicts, taught by Peter Mordh. It has been one of the most practical projects I have ever done in my college career. I’d encourage anyone to take time to reflect back on what God has done in your life and how He has lead you. It will both encourage you and strengthen your faith in God’s plan for your future!***
***Photo from upsplash.com***
The next year and a half of my life were the hardest I have experienced so far, but the Lord grew me so much! While working to be able to return to school, I realized I needed to have surgery on each of my feet to fully correct an issue I have had since birth. These surgeries kept me out of the 2013-2014 school year and it was hard to remain content. Only a few faithful friends kept in touch, and I remember telling my mother I felt like a ship without anchor, drifting through life without a clear purpose. With each surgery came 6-8 weeks of limited mobility, and this meant long hours at home, sitting and trying to keep myself occupied. However, what started as drudgery turned into delight as I began using the long hours of sitting to read God’s Word, to memorize passages of Scripture (one of my favorite passages during this time was Lamentations 3:22-26), and to read spiritually uplifting books (many of which were published through Striving Together Publications).
It would take too much space to list all the passages of Scripture that blessed me during this “waiting” stage of my life, but one verse that became my motto for planning of the future was 1 Corinthians 2:9 - “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I knew that God had a perfect plan for my life, and that He would show me what I needed to do on a “need-to-know” basis. I simply needed to follow Him, love Him with all my heart, and obey what He had already revealed to me to do. In March 2015, I began praying for three specific things that I learned from “Discover Your Destiny” by Cary Schmidt. Those three things were: (1) a serious mind, to make wise decisions (1 Cor. 13:11); (2) a pure heart, to understand and know God’s will when it was revealed (Matt. 5:8); and (3) a courageous spirit, to do whatever God revealed He wanted me to do, no matter where that lead (Joshua 1:6-9).
Ultimately these prayers gave me a surrendered heart to do whatever God had planned for me before He revealed that perfect will to me. I began looking into West Coast Baptist College for my younger sister who graduated high school in 2015, but ended up realizing that God was leading ME to attend this college. While I did not have a specific passage of Scripture that prompted me to make the decision to transfer schools, the decision came simply as a result of daily seeking God through His Word and knowing I wanted to serve Him with my life. West Coast Baptist College was the best college to attend in order to grow in my understanding of God, my understanding of why I believed what I believed, and my understanding of how to defend my faith. Little did I know the ministry mindset and spiritual atmosphere at WCBC would be exactly what I needed!
About a month before I left for college, the devil began throwing doubts my way about transferring and going so far away from home. But when I remembered that I had been asking God for a courageous spirit I knew He would be with me and give me the courage I needed to take this step of faith into the unknown (Eph. 6:10). I ended up still struggling the first couple of months at WCBC because it was so different than MBU. I tried not to compare their differences however, and sought to find my contentment in Christ. God reminded me that He was my delight, and that my highest degree of satisfaction could only be found in Him. He reminded me that He is my very best friend, He loves me, and He will show Himself to me in great ways when I obey Him (John 14:21).
Towards the end of my first year at WCBC, on April 14th, 2016 during chapel, I surrendered to be in the ministry full-time (in the past I had always told the Lord I would do whatever He wanted me to do, but had not felt Him leading me to the ministry until this day). The very next day after chapel, a young man named Daniel Booth asked me out to coffee. I agreed and greatly enjoyed getting to know Daniel as we spent time together almost every day after that until the end of the semester. He met my dad, who came to college to take me home at the end of the semester. We agreed to “just be friends” over the summer, and continued to talk every week, growing in appreciation of each other’s love for Jesus. The way these events played out still amazes me because God proved to me that surrender is what He wants most of all in every believer’s life. The whole semester I had struggled with being single, but when I finally surrendered this desire to Christ, realizing I was complete in Him, I found peace and contentment hard to describe. After this surrender, God allowed me to begin a relationship with someone who was also passionate about being satisfied with Christ alone, because we both knew that our joy could not rely on a fellow sinner, but instead it must rest on an unchanging God.
At the end of the summer of 2016, I visited Daniel and his family in Georgia, and agreed to “officially” become his girlfriend on August 18th. As we grew in love for each other during the next months at college, we both purposed to keep God #1, even though we realized this was harder than it sounded at times! In November 2016, I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Daniel, because of his love for Christ and his focus on the gospel. He constantly points me to Christ, and inspires me to grow more in love with Jesus while cultivating a passionate study of His Word. In December 2016, Daniel came home with me for part of Christmas break and asked me to marry him on December 18th. I happily agreed, and since that time the Lord has given me Titus 2 as a reminder why Daniel is the man I want to marry. Daniel follows the biblical pattern of what a godly young man should be, and I look forward to our future serving Christ together!
***This was written for one of my classes at WCBC, Counseling Youth Conflicts, taught by Peter Mordh. It has been one of the most practical projects I have ever done in my college career. I’d encourage anyone to take time to reflect back on what God has done in your life and how He has lead you. It will both encourage you and strengthen your faith in God’s plan for your future!***
***Photo from upsplash.com***
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