To the incoming college freshmen,

I would trade walking into my high school over my university any day. Reading that sentence, people probably think I'm stupid or crazy but it is true. Yes, college life is freedom, but that freedom can sometimes be the scary part. No one is there to hold your hand anymore and tell you that everything is going to be OK when you have a mini mental breakdown because you have three papers due in the same week and two tests all in that same week, too. In college, you come and go as you please and have no parents to ruin your fun and tell you to come home, study, or to do homework. Therefore that means you must know when to end your own fun and put first things first. You have to learn what is more important than other things and do it without guidance or someone there to tell you maybe try this first because the other thing can wait. With that being said, professors expect way more out of you than your high school teachers, even though you are told differently. On a daily basis, you think about changing your major or whether or not you're going to class. You lose sleep over everything because you have a lot of schoolwork, and professors think you are only taking their class when in reality if you are a full time freshmen like myself, you are taking 15 or more credits in just your first semester. On top of all of that, your university encourages you to get involved or you're one of those lonely students always in your dorm alone with nothing to do. I can't relate with the student who is always in their dorm room because honestly I probably just go to my room to sleep and shower. I'm involved in a sorority and love and enjoy every moment of it, but with school and a sorority, I'm always on the go and always have someone to hang out with. That is a good and bad thing in college. Hanging out with friends in college is extremely different than hanging out with friends in high school because more than likely, you are the typical "poor college student" and you all eat at places like Cookout now versus Chili's in the Avenues. I'm thankful that my parents still support me and pay for me while I am in college because I watch some of my friends work and do it all by themselves, and I just would completely lose it! They didn't want me to have a job on top of school work, a sorority and trying to balance a healthy life and take care of myself through my first semester of adjusting to college life. So if you become one of those students who have to do it all alone, I give it to you and thank you for being strong, and if you become a student like me, thank your parents every day!

But through this crazy college life I live, God is always there. I just have to stop sometimes and look to Him and listen to His plan. I came to college thinking that I would have the same relationship with God that I did in high school and that I would have even more time for my quite times, but boy was I wrong. You get so caught up in schoolwork, that you are sometimes staying up and writing papers until 3 a.m. in the morning and getting up at 6 a.m. to finish them and turning them in at your 8 a.m. class. If you think I'm lying, ask any college student! We have all had nights like this! I even struggle finding time to just eat because one can get so caught up with their school and social life, that you just forget about food. I know that is probably hard to believe, who forgets food? But it happens! With this crazy life I live, I have to just stop and say, "OK, God what do you want from me." I came to college thinking I had my life together and people look at me thinking I have it all together, when in reality I'm probably having a mini mental breakdown right there and then about anything and everything. I felt like I got off track and talking to God on the daily was not something I was always doing. That mentally, physically and emotionally drained me. I would refer to my Bible and read verses here and there about how He will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6), but I noticed that wasn't just helping. I needed more! Yes, reading His Word should be our way of life and His communication to us, but we must also keep communication open with Him. In my first semester of college life I forgot about praying and thought I had it all planned out and could do it all alone, but it took me to have the biggest mental breakdown to realize that I couldn't and without Him in the first place, I wouldn't have what I have now. I thought about switching universities and going back home, I thought about dropping activities in my life, and other things to try to solve my problem. He was the only way to solve it!

God is the reason I am here in the first place, and I must wait and listen to his plan for how college is going to go. Chemistry is taking a toll on me but I can't let that get me down and one grade or my GPA isn't going to define me. It took me to let God tell me that over and over again before I understood that. He let me know one night late in bed that no matter what I do in my life as long as I live for Him, He loves me and will lay out my life the way He wants but first I have to let Him. That's sometimes hard for a controlling, perfectionist, headstrong person like myself to hear but again this isn't my life, it is His! God knew every step of my path before I was even on this Earth and I have to just give it all to Him and watch it play out! It is almost like a mini preview for a movie that we get to star in and He is our director.

If you become a struggling college student like myself, just know that I know it is hard but never give up! Earlier in this post, I said no one is there to hold your hand, but He is actually there holding you completely up all through the process and I had to realize that, even though I knew that and was told that. Continue to read your Bible and dive into His Word because it's refreshing and you don't just open your Bible to certain verses. There is always a reason you opened to that page. Also, find time for your quiet times. Yes, I know you're going to have a lot of work to do, especially with finals, midterms and social life but He is more important! You can take time out of your paper or hanging out with a friend to just remind yourself you always have someone cheering you on, which is Him and to refresh yourself. I had to realize all these things and do them to get me out of this depressed state I was feeling and make myself feel like Macy again! I was in need of His daily reminders and love. Of course, you always have friends and family or maybe even sisters or brothers to pat you on the back and say, "You got this!" But He will never leave you and is the reason you got this! He is the reason I got this! Thank Him on the daily for that, and when God is tugging at your heart to do talk to Him or even to listen to Him, do it. He tugged at my heart since I graduated high school to just listen to Him and put His Word out there and sometimes I didn't get the idea or got it and just said, "I have a lot to do!"

Now, I know I said a lot of negative things about college, but it's not entirely scary. It's actually fun. But I first had to put certain things first to get there and be happy with myself so that I could have fun in college again. So finish strong as you finish up high school and enjoy your last couple of weeks because after graduation, it's all you! Enjoy your thousands of graduation parties, your last summer before college and shopping for dorm stuff. Come to college in the fall and always remember this when you are sitting in the library at 4 a.m. in the morning on the verge of a mental breakdown, He has your back!