Wrapping up a season of life always comes with sweet reflections.
With four days until graduation and 26 days until launch for the World Race, I stand amazed in the ways God showed up over these past 3 ½ years in Phoenix.
From freshman year when I entered college thinking I knew more about life than I really did. God humbled my prideful heart and taught me how much He just wants the vulnerable and real Michelle.
Sophomore year brought amazing friendships and long hours of studying. It was in this year that God taught me the value of surrounding myself with quality friends. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” This was by far my favorite year of living on a college campus with such an amazing community surrounding me.
Junior year brought a new season with God. One in which I grew in intimacy with my Abba. I learned the value of taking time to read scripture daily and spend time journaling. As the pages flowed with thoughts, prayers, and reflections, God began to reveal His truth deeper into my heart about unconditional love, grace, freedom from sin and shame, and finally obedience. It was in this season that I finally surrendered my future to Jesus.
The summer between Junior and senior year was its own season of life. It was in this time that God taught me that nothing comes apart from Him. I walked into a time of acknowledging that I needed to lean on others to provide for what God was calling me into. I learned the value of giving God my inner heart and acknowledging and working through the anxious thoughts I always held deep down inside.
Finally, this past semester of senior year has been a season of great pain, but such beautiful growth. As the growing pains of longing for so much more set in during a rough season with family, God taught me His presence. That even when I don’t feel Him for weeks on end He’s always there and I can praise Him. I learned the value of taking the message of forgiveness from the head and letting it seep into the heart and then acting it out in my daily life.
I truly believe college has been many mini seasons of life all strung together in 3 ½ years. College has been a stepping stone in finding my purpose, bringing the kingdom to earth, and leaving a mark in the lives of those I met. College was preparation for the World Race.
My time at GCU has been exponentially different than I ever dreamed of or expected it to be, but that’s the beauty in following and trusting in a Savior who holds your future in his hands. It’s always better.
Thank you to my dear friends, old and new, who have made these 3 ½ years such a wonderful experience and time of growth. Thank you to my classmates who studied and worked hard alongside me year after year and continued to be a constant encouragement. Thank you to my family and best friend for being my constant support system back home. Finally, thank you to my parents and siblings for helping provide the means to graduate with a four year degree.
Proud to be a lope!
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