Have you ever been in a place where you don’t think life could get any better than it currently is? I have. When I was in grade 12 I honestly believed that life could not possibly get better than it currently was. I was part of an amazing youth group that was like my family. On any given Friday night there would be between 10-50 youth at my house hanging out playing board games till all hours of the night. I can’t count the number of times people were at my house till 3 or 4 in the morning- or sometimes people just stayed all night and we watched the sun rise together. I was blessed with the best friend (she still is) anyone could ask for and had numerous girls I had the privilege of mentoring. School was easy enough and slack enough that it didn’t really matter if you went or not- which was good because there were often far better things to be doing (such as Dutch Blitz competitions). Our youth group was known in the community, and school and my house was seen as a safe fun place to hang out. It was not uncommon for people to be at my house who I had never met before but simply wanted somewhere to hang out where there was no pressure to get drunk.
The summer after grade 12 I worked at a camp I had worked at for years and absolutely loved. It was the best of both worlds, I got to work as a camp counselor (which if you have ever been a camp counselor you know how truly wonderful this is) and then the weekends I got to spend with my friends having bonfires and staying up all night playing board games. The staff I worked with that summer at camp seriously could not have been better- we had so much fun and I experienced so much growth and encouragement. I knew that God was calling me to Ambrose in the fall and I was going out of obedience but I honestly was not excited about it. I just didn’t understand why God would call me away from where I currently was, where I was surrounded by people I loved and who loved me and some whom I felt really needed me. People often asked me about going to college and how excited I was- I usually pretended to be and came up with response about being excited to meet new people and for the program I was in, but the truth was I knew God was using Ambrose as a trial. My life was just so good and college would be a test where I had to rely on God and cling to the truth of James 1:2 (Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds). This was going to my theme verse where I would learn to rely on God and trust him even though things are hard and I don’t understand them.
I was wrong.
My theme verse that first year of college became Ephesians 3:20 (Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us). I was so sure that life could not get any better because I was so richly blessed in grade 12. So I just assumed that college would be a time of loneliness and trials but I was wrong. God blessed me with so many amazing friendships and the people of residence became like a family- kind of like my youth group only in res you get to live with each other so you are together all day, every day and it is simply wonderful. Luckily, my best friend’s boyfriend was attending Ambrose as well so she frequently came to visit so we never went more than a couple weeks without seeing each other. I was surrounded by some great Christian mentors who could encourage me and support me and foster growth in me.
I am now finishing up my third year of school and this will be my third summer in Calgary. Each year has brought changes as I say good-bye to some close friends and make new ones. Each year and summer has looked vastly different and some seasons have been harder than others but I am continually amazed at how good God is and how he desperately loves and wants to bless his children. I am once again in a place where I can’t imagine things getting much better than they currently are; I have some wonderful jobs that I absolutely love, I was blessed to be a student director for the youth conference our school puts on, I get to be the maid of honor in my best friends wedding, I have a wonderful boyfriend, I live in a beautiful house in the perfect location- I am just all around richly blessed. But I will soon, once again, enter a period of transition. I look forward to my journey on the world race with anticipation trusting that God will once again prove Ephesians 3:20 to be true but I also struggle with wanting to remain where am I, as things are now. I am reminded of something one of my youth leaders said when I was struggling with leaving the youth group “aren’t you happy there are so many reasons it makes saying good-bye hard.” I definitely have a lot of reasons why leaving will be hard- but I can’t let that stop me from experiencing what God wants to do in me and through me on the world race.
“The greatest things in life are
often the hardest”
