I just completed my last final of Freshman year of college. My first year is over. Tonight when I lay my head on my pillow, it will be my last night in this bed until the end of August. And wow how time flew! Was it not just yesterday I arrived in Dallas with wide eyes and clueless of the people and experiences this year would hold? This year was full of unexpected turns, but oh how good God was to me this year! I grew, I learned, I cried, I questioned, I laughed, and I loved. What a first year of college it was!
I learned so much about the God I serve this year and how big His love is for me. This year was so unexpected–the good and the bad. I did not expect to have great friends this year or coworkers who would quickly become family. I did not expect to love so hard. I did not expect for classes to go so well. But I also didn’t expect two deaths and heartbreak and sickness. A lot happened this year, and I cannot even fathom that all these events happened in months that have quickly flown by. But through it all, God has chased me and pursued me and I have learned so much.
Even though times were not always rainbows and lollipops, I constantly felt God’s love towards me. I learned a lot about love this year. I was not always 100% sure this was where I was supposed to be throughout my last ten months here. Not gonna lie, sometimes I had to take a lap in the car around downtown to remember why I fell in love with this place. But WOW has God blown me away with the open doors! I have not a doubt in my mind SMU is where God has me next year because every time I started to wonder, another door came flying open. The pathway is clear and all I have had to do is trust and wait. He is so good to give us the desires of our hearts.
The amount of answered prayers and learned lessons has me in complete awe. Honestly, I do not know how to write this post and sum up my Freshman year because I have not processed all that happened this year. All I know for certain is God is good and He loves me and He has my back. We serve a great God, y’all! Don’t ever doubt where He is leading you because His plan is so much crazy better than anything we could come up with on our own!
So here is to detours and the unexpected! Here is to opportunities and places being worth the wait! Here is to new friends and new family! Here is to ends and beginnings! I cannot wait for my next chapter at SMU, but I am so thankful for this little year in between to learn and to grow. I initially never would have had this as my first choice, but God knows what we need far better than we know ourselves. This year ended up being one of my best years yet. Wow, does He love us!
With love and grace,
Olivia Mars
LiveGrace 