“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
As soon as I stepped foot back on campus, I got sucker punched. Twice. I got my heart broken, and my dad began the file for a divorce. This is the second lowest point I’d hit in my life, and any trace of that care-freeness from freshman year was lost. I began to journal because I didn’t know what else to do. There was this deck out back of our dorm that sat on the Belhaven Lake. I would get up early in the morning, go to that deck, and write my prayers to the Lord. I noticed if I wrote it down, I wouldn’t dwell on it as much during the day. One morning, the Lord brought me to the above verse. I decided to memorize it, and it became my life verse. I found a lot of comfort in James that year, and I learned the vital need of a quiet time with the Lord each day. I also figured out that when your world seems darkest, the Lord does seem to shine brighter. Probably because you humbly hit your knees a whole lot more than you normally would. During this time, I did have a shining light. The Lord showed His love for me through a very special group of friends. Eight of us lived next door or near to each other in the dorm, and we created a special bond that year. We met regularly to pray for each other, cheered each other on at sporting events and piano/ballet recitals, road tripped to all of our different home towns, and relished in our fun evenings of popcorn and dance parties. Once again, the Lord blessed me with a group of friends that gave me joy through a hard time.
Sophomore year was long, and I was pretty tired by the end of it. I felt like I needed a break from Belhaven. I wanted to get away from it all to allow my heart to heal. Far, far away…
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