I'm Moving!!!

Hey all! Welcome back to my blog!

     As those of you who read my blog regularly you will know I just had my college visit to Ozark Christian College in Missouri. Well, I'm pleased to say that the tour was amazing and God has shown me where I will be moving in the fall!
     His timing was perfect in this 100%. Last year at this time I was wasting away in a major depressive state, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, let along if I even wanted to live. . .
     There were points when I'd try to talk myself into just picking Central College or North Western and I'd adjust after school started. I'm so thankful that I decided to take the year off to work and just take a few classes from DMACC. Honestly, staying back a year was never a conscious choice that I made; it kind of just happened and I felt at peace about it. God knew I'd be well taken care of here at home. 2 of my longest best friends were staying back for a year, and we all made a new friend a few months ago when he moved to town.
     Throughout the months I spent here at home one of my best friends began to mess with me about how I should go to the school he was going to attend. . . God must've had a sense of humor because I ended up applying to that same school! Now I'm in love with the campus and everything it has to offer. . .
     Had I gone off to school with everyone else I'd be studying the wrong majors, living in the wrong place, and most likely worse off than I was at this time last year. I'm so thankful for a God who works things out for HIS good as well as mine, even when I don't see it coming together at the time.
     This year I am confident and ready to begin my journey towards a Christian Counseling degree. I may not know how far down this path of studying God is going to take me, but I do know that this path is one that God is guiding me down to do His will.
-
-
     One thing I'm mesmerized by is how everything I went through last year shaped me into the person I am today, yet I never saw how it was all coming together to totally change my life. Similar to the saying "a watched pot never boils" so you don't completely see what God is doing in your life until you take a step back and trust God to fulfill His plan for your life.
     If I were to give one piece of advice during difficult times, it'd be so stop trying so hard to understand and make sense of things and just step back and let God work His plan.
-
-
     When we were driving up to campus the 6 hour drive seemed to take forever, especially since I had never been there before and didn't know where anything was. Once we arrived at the hotel we took off pretty quickly to see the campus the night before the tour.
     Mom said it was larger than what she figured but it was smaller than what I thought. Something that was super amazing about this school is the fact they want to model a life their students can take after. Because of this they keep their campus debt-dree and make sure everything is paid off. This makes tuition much cheaper and the books and supplies can be sold at a reduced price also.
     I did end up enjoying my tour. I went into it with a positive attitude and the day seemed to fly by! We started out by going to a class of our choice to sit in and observe. I actually ended up choosing (by accident) a class that someone I knew was in! So that started my day off well. I chose "Foundations for Christian Mission" and it was an amazing class. The professor was so kind and the size of the class was small enough that every professor would end up knowing my name.
     After class we all went and sat together for chapel. It. Was. Amazing. I've never felt so at home and loved a new church setting so much! Every student poured out their hearts in worship to our King and the message was powerful and intriguing. Nothing that was said about faith could be argued with. Everything the pastors, speakers, and professors said lined up with my beliefs. The music was absolutely beautiful and you could tell the Spirit was in the songs. Big songs. Big worship. Big smiles on my face.
     Everyone you ran into was so kind and friendly, and when we finished up with our lunch they insisted that we leave our things there and they would clean up for us.
    When we took our tour they were willing to slow down for us, answer every single question we had, and they enjoyed having a good time with all of us.
     It shouldn't even take me 10 minutes to walk across campus, everything is so easy to find and the dorms are a good size. One thing I dislike is the dorm bathrooms, but then again, I'm sure I can adjust.
     Chapel is every Tuesday at 10 am. Our tour guide told us it's mandatory with 4 skips per semester, but chapel is her absolute favorite part of the week.
     Every Thursday they break off into mentoring groups. Either it's an upperclassman with 3 or so freshman, or it's a group of upperclassman who either just take time off to have fun or to take time to have those serious discussions people need to have from time to time. Classes are cancelled during that time so the students can really invest in the time they have together.
     On top of classes being cancelled during the groups, there is never any classes on Mondays either. Long weekends happen every week! They do this because many of the students have internships that can be up to 2 hours away on Sundays, and since the weekends are the time to study they lose most of their study time. Because of this, Mondays are an extended weekend day. One downside to this is classes begin at 7 am during the rest of the week (if you choose to take a 7 am class.) Our tour guide enjoys taking these early classes so she can be done for the day around lunch time! Wouldn't that be amazing?!
         Everything was absolutely amazing, aside from the snowy weather. Fun Fact: the students were shocked it was snowing! I'd love that. . .
     Overall, I am excited to begin my new life at Ozark. One of the only things I'm not looking forward to is the 6 hour drive, but I'm sure it'll be easier the more and more I drive it. I'll also only be coming home every few months.
-
-
     I'll post more updates as they come, and I wasn't able to take many pictures so I can't post any here.
     Once I move I'll be sure to share them with you all!


     "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
-Psalm 73:26 NIV 

-Sarah