New Chapter

College! It's something that we all can't wait for as we go through middle school and high school. You grow up with an idea of what college is going to be like and by the time your senior year arrives, you can't wait for college to finally get here.

I had high expectations of my senior year, just like any other uprising senior. I had all of the football games planned out, I had a long list of things to do before I graduated, and I had everything all worked out in my head of how I wanted things to go. Unfortunately my senior didn't go the way I had planned. Different things came up within my family that caused a lot of stress. One thing being, my Dad lost his job. God blessed my Dad for years with a thriving construction business. I grew up knowing that I could get whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I don't ever remember waking up to a Christmas and wishing that I had something that I had asked for and didn't receive. God being the God that he is, showed my humility through it all and I learned so much about life.

Having gone through some other things this past year, I have also learned that there are some things in life that just don't make since. There are things that as humans that we have to learn to just turn them over to God and walk in His love and know that God allows circumstance to occur, to shape is into the person He wants us to be. Even when things don't turn out the way that we want them to. Sometimes life will be painful, but through it all, God, in His love, wants us to become more like him. Faith... this is a hard thing to live by, but faith is also a very powerful thing. In the Bible it says that if we have the faith of a mustard seed, that we can move mountains. Wow! That's a hard thing to grasp. I'm not going to lie... faith for me is hard.

In September of 2008, I visited North Greenville for the first time. I wasn't sure if i really wanted to go to North Greenville, but I came with my school because I wanted to have a "free-day" from class. So, I came... the moment I stepped foot on to this campus, I knew right then and there that this was where God wanted me

...So this is where my journey of getting to North Greenville started...

I went back to school and told my counselor that I needed help. Neither of my parents have ever been to college and I had no clue how to begin the process of going to college. I told him my family's situation and he told me of I started working back in September of 2008 getting all of my financial stuff together because I knew that with my Dad losing his job and us not having any money put back for school that I was going to have to work extra hard to get all of the money together. I had some academic scholarships and a couple of other things, but it wasn't enough for my full tuition. Also, considering the fact that I have a twin sister who wanted to come to North Greenville, made it even more of a challenge. It took a lot and was a long stressful road.

Two weeks before I moved to North Greenville, I didn't think that I was going to get to move. My sister and I couldn't get all of our financial stuff together and it seemed impossible that we would ever get to North Greenville. I sat down with my parents as we tried to figure out what we were going to do and it hit me... God had gotten us this far. Did I really think that he was going to let go know? I knew without a doubt that North Greenville was were God wanted me to be and having all of this in mind, I reminded that God is incontroll and that with him NOTHING is impossible. Four days later everything finally worked. He didn't work it out right when I wanted him to, but He worked it out in His time - the best time!

Now I am here at North Greenville and as I look back over the past year, I see how God has worked in my life in so many different ways. God has showed me so much and although I may not be spiritually where I was a couple of years ago, I know that God has me here for a reason. I am excited about this new chapter in my life and about all that God has in store for me. I am anxious and ready to see him more and to be drawn closer to him.