I grew up in church from the time that I was a baby until my teenage years. It was Sunday routine to get up and go to church with my parents. I always considered myself a Christian as I was saved at 10 years old and attended church regularly with my family. However, up until about 6 months ago, I never knew what a “relationship” with God meant.

In the fall of 2021, I was starting to look at University’s to transfer to from my local community college. I grew up in a small town of about 6,000 people so moving far away from home for college isn’t typically what people do. However, I knew in my heart that I wanted to go to the University of North Carolina Wilmington. I’ve always considered the beach my second home as I grew up going there with my family and I love being near the water. So, I officially got accepted in the following months and moved there in August of 2022.

My first week of college wasn’t your “average” experience. I was in a new environment with people who I did not know, living with 3 random strangers, and on top of that I was 4 hours away from home. I am not one to typically get homesick, however, this was a whole new experience for me. If you’re in college, you know the “norm” is going to frat parties every weekend and getting drunk. Personally, I have just never been the type of gal to partake in anything like that but peer pressure can be a real thing sometimes. After a while, I started to feel like I was not being “fulfilled” and this took me down a long journey of self discovery.

After about a month of being in Wilmington, I decided to go on a hunt for a Bible Study Group which ultimately lead me to finding “CCF” which stands for Campus Christian Fellowship. I started going and immediately made so many friends. However, these friends aren’t just your “typical” ones. They are friends who pray for you, support you, and surround you with a feeling of community to reassure you that you’re not alone in this new experience of your life. This is what truly started my journey of starting an actual relationship with God and I am forever thankful that I did.

Going 4 hours away to school truly changed my life. It made me grow closer to God and have an actual relationship with him which is the most important but also my relationships with other people around me. I wasn’t proud of the person that I was a year ago today but it is just crazy how God can truly work within you and change your life because he sure did mine.

College is truly all about who you surround yourself with and if you want to make a change in your life, you have to do it for YOU and not anybody else. If you are not finding your identify within Christ, you will look for your identity in other things and ultimately be disappointed when they can’t give it to you. I’m so thankful for where I’m at now with my walk with Christ and it’s all because I made the decision to do it for myself and if you’re reading this, you can to! God loves you and so do I. :)