This past week, I celebrated my 22nd birthday– a whole year since I made the choice to actively seek out a community again. It is crazy how much I have been transformed in the past year, and it is all thanks to the grace and love of God.
Looking back on the crazy year 21 was, I am blown away by the sense of community and spiritual friendship God has blessed me with. A year ago, I was a 21 year old girl who wanted to party and drink to seem “cool.” I thought if I went to the bar, dressed a certain way, and had a guys’ attention that my life would be perfect and complete, but man was I wrong. I was wrong, but in the best way possible.
God had bigger and better plans for me, and it was only the beginning. I just had to say yes.
Last February, my sweet friend, Hayley, invited me to join her small group on Thursday nights. At the time, I had no idea that it would be the beginning of the most trans formative, life-changing friendships and community EVER. I started going to the campus ministry called Chi Alpha on Monday nights. In the beginning, I was terrified, but also very jealous. I looked around at these awesome people and craved for what they had: community. I looked at my life and said, “I want that.”
It blows my mind that God knows the desires of our hearts and how he answers them in the most intimate ways.
This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Chi Alpha Winter Retreat in Washington, D.C. with 500 plus college students. A year ago, I never thought I would even be on a trip with these people, let alone with the spiritual friendships that were cultivated all because I prayed and someone else prayed for my heart.
The power of prayer is substantial.
This past weekend helped to remind me that I am made for something SO MUCH MORE. God made me for a life that is pleasing to Him. One where He looks at me and smiles and cries because He is proud of me and the work He has done in and through me. That. That is a life worth living.
One of the best ways to describe the love of our Father is summed up in the chorus of the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury:
“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah”
Our God’s love for us is reckless, overwhelming, never-ending, and constant. And a year ago, I said YES to His love and the amazing life He has for me, and ever since, I have been blown away. HE. IS. GOOD.
