I’m entering in on probably the craziest two weeks of my undergraduate career with research, thesis writing, tests, papers, a field trip, and a currently missing wallet all looming. So naturally, I’m blogging (also known as procrastinating).
God always surprises me. I’ve spent the past few days at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco. It’s been awesome and I learned a lot, just as I expected to however, what I didn’t expect was how much I would enjoy spending time with the wonderful people who came on the trip. I knew everyone from chemistry club (you laugh but I swear we’re cool people) before the conference but I didn’t realize how quickly we would become a tight knit group. We saw speakers that we understood as well as others that went way over our heads and spent hours laughing and just enjoying being together in our hotel. God jumps in and reminds me that He can give me love, friendship, and community even at a chemistry conference.
This brought me back to the beginning of this year, my senior year at TCU. At the beginning of the year, I thought I had great friends. And I did. I had my group of friends from freshman year (shout out to the triad) and so many other people in my life. I was so excited to spend the year with all these old friends. Then, for some strange reason, I decided the pre-health group should make a flag football team. May not have been one of my best ideas but remember the title of this blog- I’m talking about unlikely things, like a group of future doctors playing flag football. But anyway, we were not good. I think we won two games but, what I gained from playing flag football was not a win/loss record or a championship trophy but relationships with incredible people. I made new friends who challenged me and supported me. Friends that have come to mean the world to me and will be very hard to leave. Friends that I can’t believe I only met 7 months ago. God shows up through wonderful new friends in the unlikeliest places, including a flag football field.
Our team has morphed into a friend group and has become almost like a family (we even hosted a Friends-giving). We’ve added new friends along the way and it has been a really fun year. I am a person who is quick to like people and call them my friends but trusting people can be difficult. I always have a back-up plan and assume that people are going to let me down. I like to be in control. But, as I often have to remind myself, God is in control and I need to trust Him because He WILL take care of me and will not let me down. I’ve come to realize that God uses unlikely people in unlikely places in unlikely ways to teach us. These friends, this pre-health flag football team, has shown me love, compassion, and kindness that I do not deserve. They have pushed me out of my comfort zone and stayed by my side. They have been patient with me and truly care about me as a person. Slowly but surely, they have broken through my stubbornness and need for control. They have been exactly the friends that I’ve needed by my side this year and they are going to be so hard to leave behind.
Fam, I love y’all and I simply do not have the words to thank each one of you for being a part of my life.
God works wonders through unlikely people in unlikely places. He doesn’t use perfect people; He uses perfectly imperfect people. I can only hope that come August, God can use me to love people the way I’ve been loved by so many. Over the next year, I’m going to be traveling all over the world and there are times when I’ll find myself in the unlikeliest places having profound experiences with God. I pray that I’ll be open to these experiences and allow God to use me in unlikely ways.
