My last year of high school was spent filling out countless college applications, hoping to get into the best school, with the best name, and cute dorms. Pretty much like any other seventeen year old, my biggest concern was leaving my closest friends and family. At that point in time, it didn't matter to me where I was, just as long as I was comfortable. I was accepted to quite a few schools, and decided on Auburn in Alabama, which is only 2 hours away from my home in Leesburg, Georgia. This was it, I was so excited to be starting here with my best friend. The Fall semester was about to start and we were still really excited.
But some hard things happened, and a lot changed. I quickly realized this wasn't the place for me. One day I was having such a hard time trying to figure out what to do, and I did not want to go back home and go to community college. I was ready for something completely new. So I called my grandparents, both retired professors for New Mexico State University, and told them I was coming. I hadn't applied, I didn't even know if I could still register for classes- and after I had spent the last year laughing when my family would ask about me going to school in New Mexico. But I was going.
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I packed up a small suitcase and shipped a box out to Las Cruces, and flew into my new home two days before classes started.
All of this still seems like a dream. Really, How in the world did I get enough courage to do this? It's still hard comprehend the fact that I decided to leave my home and go to school on the other side of the country-- and if you asked me now, I don't know if I could do it again. I got so many weird responses when I left Georgia to go to New Mexico. I still do, and it used to bother me more than anything. After I left I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to stay in Leesburg. I couldn't understand why people couldn't see that there was so much more in the United States. But I understand now that I'm not the only one who likes to be comfortable.
I soon realized that the Lord does not call us into comfort. He doesn't call us to stay with our high school friends. He calls us in so many different ways to so many different places and for so many different reasons. He put me in New Mexico for a reason. I can't even begin to explain the changes in my life since coming out here. I am in no way the same girl I was four years ago. And I am completely alright with this.
Sometimes being away from family is hard. And people always ask me about paying for out of state tuition. But He has provided abundantly in that, too. I can't say that going out of state for school was even really my decision. But I can say it was one of the biggest indicators of the Lord calling me out of comfort; and I am so glad that He decided to use me in New Mexico.
Now I've graduated with a degree in Public Relations and in Advertising, I'm getting married in two months, and I recently started my first big-girl PR job. None of which I could have imagined four years ago, and definitely couldn't have done on my own. Georgia will always be home, but I am so thankful for the sweet little life the Lord has blessed me with here, and I wouldn't change a thing.
