I moved to Auburn, Alabama over a month ago. Talk about a life change! To say it has been a journey is an understatement. I have seen Jesus in ways I can’t even begin to process, and He is teaching me a multitude of things both when life seems light and cheery and when it seems dark and gloomy. He keeps giving me people whom I can’t believe I haven’t known until now, and He continues to remind me of His divine providence through the journey. Even though I am so new at this whole college thing, I am learning things everyday about His goodness that I want to share to the world.
So here are some random thoughts for the college kid, the high school senior, the adult who has been out of college for years. I owe it all to Jesus.
It is okay to feel lonely even when you are surrounded by a multitude of people. He is with you in your loneliness.
He calls you to set aside your need to always be with people, because He wants you to sit at the table with Him.
He deeply cares for the desires of His children, yet He knows what is best, so trust Him.
He doesn’t call you to try to place a box around your friendships. Jesus was a friend to all.
He didn’t create us to try to figure out the plan for the rest of our lives. He created us for Himself and He will always be enough.
It is a good thing to surrender, yet it is okay if it takes a while to process the things you need to surrender.
Be honest about how you feel. If you are weary, tell a sister/brother in Christ. I guarantee you they might feel the same way.
When you are anxious, tell Jesus how you feel right away and allow Him to hold you.
It is okay if you don’t have your lifelong friends overnight. He has ordained people for you so wait patiently with hope.
Simply collapse into His arms. When you are sad, happy, nervous, excited. You don’t have to exert force to even try to run… just collapse.
And now for some fun things:
Never miss an opportunity to watch the sunrise/sunset with people. You bond with people when you witness something as amazing as the sky together.
Take a study break and have a dance party with your roommate/soul sister. Those are the moments you will remember.
Don’t even feel bad about walking to get ice cream every night. You’re burning calories on the walk there!
If your campus has rental bikes, ride them at night… it hits different.
It’s okay if you have three cups a coffee a day. Coffee exists for a reason.
I don’t even know how to begin to conclude these thoughts, but I pray that they can help even just one person. I am still a baby at this college thing and by next month I will probably have many more thoughts, so I will keep you updated. If you are reading this and are overwhelmed by the refining fire, please reach out to me; Jesus made us for community! Let’s be here for each other… in the laughter and the heartache.
All my love,
Blair Elizabeth
Friends in nature!Friends with coffee!Friends at sunrise!Worship!
Is He enough for me in the midst of confusion, uncertainty, and disruption?
Is He enough for me when there is no end in sight to a virus that seems to be taking over?
Is He enough for me when the rest of my senior year is cancelled, including my high school graduation?
Is He enough for me when I feel isolated from the people that I love?
Is He enough for me when trips that I have had planned for months have now been cancelled?
Is He enough for me when I long to to feel in control?
Is Jesus enough?
Is He enough for me when my heart is heavy and my soul is restless?
Is He enough for me when my thoughts are obsessive and I wrestle with sin?
Is He enough for me to be satisfied in my present state when I long for perfection?
Is He enough for me when I doubt my salvation, and I try to put my hope in my fragile self?
Is Jesus enough?
These are questions to wrestle with, to pray about, and to meditate on.
These are questions that should cause us to run to the throne of grace, pleading that Jesus would be enough for our weary souls.
Because the truth is, He is enough, and I long for Him to be enough for me.
And not just enough, I long for Him to be everything.
All of creation is groaning for the King of Heaven to make all things new.
And one day He will.
But until that glorious day, let us collapse into His arms, trusting that He will always be enough.
Through these weeks of isolation and cancelled plans, the Lord has given me the blessing of scripture and songs that have blessed my soul. I pray they are an encouragement to you as well:
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
simplyblair 