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从德克萨斯到乔治亚：我的圣约之旅
从恐惧到信仰
决定去哪所大学是许多高中生一生中最大的决定。 我知道我想要做两件事：离开德克萨斯和遵循上帝对我生命的计划。 My greatest fear was that those would not be the same thing. Was choosing what I wanted bad?
As I was wrestling with this fear, my father shared a Bible verse with me that shaped how I handled making big decisions. Proverbs 19:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps” (NLV). This verse gave me so much peace as I made college decisions. 它完全颠覆了我对上帝在我生命中的工作方式的期望； I used to think that God had an end goal for me, and it was my job to get there. But this verse said the complete opposite, I could make big life-changing decisions because God was guiding each of my smaller steps. 我的最终目的地牢牢地掌握在他的手中。
新的挑战
我是在世界观学院的一次在线会议上听说威尼斯人平台的。 At the end, they shared a list of christian colleges that are worth considering, and Covenant College found its way onto my list of colleges to visit! I visited campus on spring break of junior year, and as we left the mountain and drove back home I remember saying, “This is my dream school.” It was the first college visit that made me excited for this next stage in life. Rather than being afraid, I became passionate about studying English and excited to learn more about the Lord with my peers. After a lot of prayer with my parents, I submitted my application and got accepted. That next fall, I moved to the mountain without knowing a soul here.
Nothing could have prepared me for how challenging it would be to leave Texas nor how much I’d grow. I have another friend who also moved across the country for college, and we talked about our shared experience of feeling “orphaned.” In the first few months that I lived at Covenant, it would hit me that I was in an unfamiliar place surrounded by strangers. Whereas my friends would leave to go home on weekends or have their parents come up to visit, I found phone calls from home to be increasingly more rare and life events to keep happening at home without me.
在不舒服中寻找快乐
My early college life could have been a very isolating experience, but through my homesickness I found a strong community at Covenant. Not having any connections drove me to pursue and develop stronger relationships on campus. I had to learn to advocate for my needs and relied on my friends in more ways than I expected.
But even though I was alone, I felt at home praising God with other believers and I found joy in looking for a new church community. Experiencing the different faith traditions around Chattanooga was instrumental in my spiritual growth. I also savored the worship during chapel mornings.
的 more I did life with my new community, the more I grew sure that God had planned this step in my life. I am so glad I had the boldness to leave my comfort for such a great joy.