For those of you wondering why I haven't blogged in a while, it's because I was involved in a high priority mission called "trying to graduate." The mission was overwhelmingly successful and through it I obtained a piece of paper with my name, some flowery words, and (what feels like) validation as an adult emblazoned across it. I am now a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. As monumental and life changing as this is, now, more than ever, it is important for me to find my worth and identity in the Lord. College is a wonderful thing, don't get me wrong. Through college, God gave me amazing friends and experiences all over the globe. He gave me a deeper understanding of Himself, though I am nowhere near understanding Him perfectly. There are some rather startling things about college as well:
1.) It is a time to focus an enormous amount of work and energy into building a name for yourself. Essentially, you are striving to collect a piece of paper that will enable you to apply for better occupations in the future. You are striving to collect a piece of paper that will set you apart for future employers. You are striving to collect a piece of paper that will (hopefully) ensure a better paid job, a better environment for your future children and spouse, etc.
2.) You are asked, repeatedly, what you will do with your degree (even before you have it). What will you pursue? What's your ideal job? There are so many questions you are asked about yourself.
3.) You are charged by both your professors and your parents (especially if they are paying for it) that school should have priority over all facets of your life.
Now, I'm not saying college is evil, that you shouldn't go, or that you shouldn't ask yourself thought-provoking questions about your future. I am saying, however, that the four years (or five, if you're like me: super seniors represent!) are almost entirely self-focused. Because of this self-centric policy myself and others adopted in college, there are many who invest their entire identity in being successful post-undergraduate. What happens, then, if you don't get the job you have been dreaming of for the last four years? What happens if you decide after you graduate to do something entirely different from what you had initially pictured? What happens when college no longer has priority in your life? Is your entire identity in question? Do you question everything you have striven for in the past four years of your adult life?
Some of these things I am processing through. Some of them I took precautions against in college. Some of them I was totally unprepared for. I have gone back again and again to the promises God has given me about my identity in scripture. Overwhelmingly, I keep returning to a passing in Romans 6, verses 3-7:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
God has rescued me from a life of having it all together and pinpointing exactly what my life should look like. Instead, he has given me freedom in finding my identity in Him, rather than my achievements. I know that because of this promise, my striving is not in vain. God will give me purpose. He will sustain me.
More so than ever, I am thankful for the World Race. It gives me an opportunity to be free of tying my identity to myself or the things I've earned. It gives me a chance to connect with my Savior through serving His people in 11 different communities around the globe. I encourage you to be in prayer with me. Pray that I will forget myself in order to remember the faces and names and needs of those whom Jesus so dearly loves, whom he is calling me to love.
Grace and peace,
Sarah
