Rescued

 Well graduation is quickly approaching.  In 36 days, I will be completely done with my undergrad at Florida State.  Crazy! The past 4 years have FLOWN by!  Lately, I have been reflecting and reminiscing about these last few years of my life.  Naturally, the fact that I'm graduating has stirred up some emotions, some happy and some sad.  However, I think the emotion that I am feeling the most is thankfulness.  I am so grateful for how God has used my college experience to draw me near to Him.  This is the reason for why I am blogging.  I wanted to tell others about how God has radically transformed my life.

  Three short years ago, I was a freshman trying to decide if I should attend a Summer Training Program (STP)  in Branson, MO with the campus ministry, The Navigators.  STP is a 9 week program offered to college students who want to deepen their relationship with Christ and want to grow in sharing their faith with others.  Let's just cut to the chase and say that I ended up going....and the only way I can explain why is because of God's grace and mercy in my life.  

ok...now let's back up a bit...

I came to college as an insecure 17 year old expecting a different experience than what I got.  I came to college wanting to meet new people and form a new identity than the one I had in high school.  I wanted people to like me and I wanted to have lots of friends.  I would do whatever it took to get people's approval, even things that I knew were wrong.  I was trying to find complete satisfaction in things that ultimately would never satisfy me.  I was finding my identity and my sense of worth in people's opinions about me.  However, people never filled that longing of wanting to be accepted, loved, and valued.  

There was a point in the fall semester of my freshman year, that I felt unhappy, guilty, and depressed.  I distinctively remember praying that God would give me a desire to know Him.  Although, I wanted a desire, I didn't have one and it was hard for me to choose Him over following the crowd.  So I started praying and not only for a desire, but also for friends.  Friends who knew Jesus and were following Him.  My sister, Hope was a junior at FSU and was involved with the Navigators.  She invited me a couple of times and I would go with her, but I felt insecure.  People are hard-core living for Jesus and here I am living a double-sided life.  Well December comes around and my sister asked me if I wanted to read the Bible with her and I said yes.  So spring semester comes and goes and people are making summer plans.  Well  I told Hope that if I went back to Orlando for the summer, I probably would backtrack in any growth that I experienced that semester. Hope was going to STP to be a team leader and she encouraged me to go and be a team member.  I immediately said no.  I didn't know anyone really well in Navs so why would I want to go spend a whole summer with them?

Well somehow I ended up going.  Let's just say, God used that summer to reveal Himself to me and to reveal His love for me.  A key verse from that summer was Zephaniah 3:17.

The Lord your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Wow!  What a great God!  He loves me enough to send His Son to die on the cross for me so that I can  have eternal life and I can have a relationship with Him.  I no longer looked at the Bible as a boring book, but as the living, active Word of God.  As I said earlier, I prayed for friends.  Well, God provided plenty of friends and I didn't have to do anything for them to like me.  They loved me for me, who God created me to be.  Summer of 2008, was the summer that God radically changed my life.  God loves me, accepts me, and values me.  I realized that only God can fulfill the deepest longings of my soul and I realized that I wanted to serve Him. 

-Psalm 40:1-3 was my key verse from that summer- God has lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and has given me a firm place to stand.  Rescued.  God has rescued me out of the dominion of darkness and has brought me into the Light. 

Ever since that summer, God has continued to grow me and transform me into a vessel for His kingdom.  I am so grateful that God has called me to be His daughter!  By His grace, He saves...praise Him!