Saturday, August 20, 2011

He'll Move those Mountains

I really feel the need to write, though I have no clue as to what I am to say. My thoughts are very disjointed and undeveloped right now, as I'm preparing to move to Ohio on Thursday.

Yes. Ohio. That's a LONG way away from Kansas. Most of my friends who go to college journey to about 3ish hours away from home, to K-State or KU. Some go 30 minutes away to WSU, or less than that travel time to go to Newman or Friends. And I have a couple of friends who travel 6-8ish hours to attend the University of Dallas. While all of my friends who attend these schools and live in the dorms have to work hard to move their belongings, it is quite a feat to move 1100 miles away from home. Seriously, the foresight needed for the coming months while packing is ridiculous. I won't be home until Christmas, so I needed to pack clothes that will carry me through the humid/hot late summer days of Steubenville, warmer clothes for the cooler fall months, and even a couple clothes that can keep me warm if the early December weather takes a turn for the worse. While packing, I had decided that I was much too lazy to find a good sized box, pack it, and mail it out to the university. No, I had decided that I would simply fill my rolling-carry-on luggage and a massively huge suitcase, and leave it at that. Poverty, right? I could handle just living with those belongings. Well, my dad and neighbor convinced me to pack and mail and extra box. I relented, and my mom was relieved-I now knew that I would have enough to carry me through the semester. But the adventure did not end there....my dad came out, saw my suitcase, and pointed out a rip that was on the side! A rip that definitely was not fixable. So off to go searching for another box! And I packed it full, mailed it off, and now am realizing that the majority of my clothes are in transit somewhere in the U.S., hopefully on the way to Steubenville. I'm just trusting God that the mail service will do its job and take my clothes safely to school.

Trusting God. It's definitely something that I've gone through a lot within the past three years. And this whole college thing has been one huge lesson in trust. See, a few years back, I suddenly got it in me that I was completely opposed to the idea of actually going to Steubenville. Yes, it is a great school, and I was baptized on campus, but I thought that someplace like Ave Maria would be better for me. And then, junior year, I was in Adoration at an All-Night Vigil (which are awesome, by the way), and God literally spoke in my heart: "You need to go to Steubenville." Whoa....what? Well, okay......So I applied for Steubenville that summer. I scheduled a campus visit in October of senior year, and I was excited to go visit the campus as a prospective student. But a couple weeks before I left for my visit, I received a letter in the mail. An acceptance letter to FUS, and.....a scholarship letter, awarding me $5,000/year for all four years! I had been given $20,000 that I NEVER applied for! From there, God continued to work. My campus visit was incredible, filled with blessings, graces, and fun. As I continued to do paperwork and prepare to begin my education there, I found out that I received a $1,100 Franciscan University Youth Conference Scholarship that I had practically forgotten that I applied for! And then there were random bits of money here or there-grants and stuff for freshman--that I randomly got. All of a sudden, what was going to be a gigantic sum of money that I owed for my first semester turned into a much more manageable sum!

So I have been learning, and witnessing, the power of trust in God. Honestly, there are so many people who feel that they just have to settle on a certain school because of cheap tuition; settle on a major because they feel its the best option to get a job; or stay in their current prayer level, 'cause they don't feel that they can somehow get into a deeper relationship with God.
Seriously.
With God, all things are possible!
I know that people say "be realistic." To that, I wish to quote Abby Johnson, former Director of Planned Parenthood: "We serve a God who is in the business of miracles."
Trust in God, do your part, and He WILL move mountains!
May the grace, peace, and blessings of God shower down upon you this day and all your days!

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