While in my freshman year at college I fell into a dark place of thinking I wasn’t enough. I wasn’t pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough, and I thought that I would never be. I never was the party type in high school, but that quickly changed once at college. I was going out to parties every weekend and surrounding myself with people I shouldn’t have. I knew deep down that the person I was becoming wasn’t the person I wanted to be. I didn’t admit this to myself until my sophomore year started and I told myself I would travel home on weekends or spend time studying or getting my work done. However, that isn’t what happened. I wasn’t partying as much as I did my freshman year maybe just every other weekend now.
When I moved from New York to Alabama half way though my sophomore year I decided enough was enough. I wanted a fresh start, to become a new and improved version of myself. I was finally in the major that I knew in my heart was the right place to be. I could not have been more excited to make the eighteen hour drive down to my new home. When I first arrived I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t know a single person in the state of Alabama. I soon started to make friends but not with the people I should have been. It seemed that my fresh start wasn’t going as planned and I fell back into some of my old habits. I wasn’t proud of who I was and the decisions I was making. My grades were slipping while my GPA was dropping so I knew I needed to make a change.
That summer I decided that I wouldn’t go out at all and I would make friends with the right people. I was successful in my plan with only a few bumps. In fall I got my new random roommates, who seemed relatively normal and nice. One day one of my roommates told me they were going to play wiffle-ball at their church and I asked if I could tag along. She said of course in such an excited manner and off we went. What I didn’t know at the time was that this would be the beginning of my fresh start. After that night, I started to go to devotionals and worship with her.
Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace”
After a few weeks of listening attentively to lessons from Scott, Will, and others I decided to get baptized. October 9th, 2016 will be a day I never forget. I had been thinking about if this was the right thing for me to do for around a week. I went to bible class at nine in the morning as usual then to worship at ten. I didn’t know that when I walked into the church that day that I would leave a new person, a child of God. This is the day I got my new family, bothers and sisters who would help me grow in my faith forever.
1 Corinthians 12:13 “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Now that I am about two hundred days into my new journey I really see how much everyone loves and cares for each other. I have made life long friends who I can go to for anything at any time of the day. I will forever be thankful for my wonderful roommate who asked if I wanted to play wiffle-ball. I still fall off the path once in a while, but who doesn’t, and when I do I have plenty of people to pray for me. I love my new family and I would never want change the choices I’ve made for myself.
Ephesians 4:5 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”
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