I’ve been gradually adding things to this list all summer, but I figured I’d post it a lil early so I can make the announcement that I’ve switched onto a different route! Come January, I’ll be heading to: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Cote d’lvoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Montenegro, Romania, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia! Super bummed that I won’t be getting to go to India or Nepal, but God’s doing something amazing in this route and I’m just stoked to be a part of it. The reason why I switched is somewhat of a long story, and I’ll probably write a different post about it later on, but for now here’s just a simple list of what I’ve learned this summer:
- Love is meeting people where they’re at.
- My parents literally deserve the world for what they’ve given me.
- Five Guys is terrible and overpriced!!! Don’t go there!!!
- “To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus.” -David Platt, Follow Me (also, bonus David Platt quote: “Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ’s pursuit of us. Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us.”)
- Sometimes you need to re-learn how to love people you’ve known your whole life.
- As often as I would like to make decisions with my heart using only my emotions and feelings, sometimes you need to make the decision with your head. This is called: maturity!!! Who knew!!!
- No matter where you come from, we all want one thing: to be fully seen and fully known.
- Waitressing really sucks, man. But it’s worth the rude people to make that $$$.
- Disappointment also sucks- but don’t let it cripple you. Harambe didn’t die for that.
- Looking around at all your friends who are in serious relationships has the potential to be depressing, but just think of all the free cake you’ll eat at their weddings. So much cake
- I may be the most laid-back, type B person ever, but I still have a problem when I’m not in control, and I need to accept that sometimes I just won’t be, but God always is, and that’s infinitely better.
- People are worth pursuing even when you’re tired of people.
- Choosing to lean into an opportunity and seize it for all it’s worth is sometimes exhausting, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding and so worth it.
- Bachelor in Paradise is probably, at risk of hyperbole, the greatest visionary sequence in the history of the universe to ever grace our television screens.
- Dates are still the worst thing; I’d honestly rather just avoid them altogether.
- Sometimes you say, “God is calling me to go to the Middle East. Also, I don’t want to go back to South America,” and then you’re 100% wrong about what you thought God wanted of you, and you end up planning to go back to South America, and you’re like, “hm, okay, not even going to question anything anymore, I’m just going to go.”
- With that being said, in general, sometimes things you’re so sure will happen don’t happen. It’s okay.
- Identify your expectations, whether they be for a new season of life or a person. Especially if they’re for a person. A lot of times, you have unfair expectations, which leads to disappointment, which leads to conflict, which leads to one person changing the Netflix password without notice. [Editor’s note: this did not happen to me. Only the worst people do this, and I only know the best people. Example of worst person would be Judas. Judas would change the Netflix password on Jesus, and then Jesus would text Judas and be like, “Did you change the Netflix password?” and Judas would have his read receipts on so Jesus could see that he clearly read it but is just choosing not to respond.]
- While we’re talking about Netflix, their originals are the best. Watch Stranger Things and pray those precious pearl children grow up to be best friends like the Harry Potter cast.
- Vanity ain’t cute. Self-centeredness ain’t cute. There were a lot of times I was not cute this summer, and I had to have a conversation with myself and be like, “stop.”
- Ginger ale is actually amazing? Not sure why this is just a recent development in my life
