I was never the "popular" girl in high school. I was never the one everyone was dying to hang out with after school, but I typically tagged along those who were. I was an extrovert, so I knew a lot of people. But it took me until recently to realize the difference between knowing a lot of people and having real, true friends.

In high school, my closest friends were those who I went to church with. My "church crew" per se. These were the people I sought out to spend time with. These were the ones I called when I needed a shoulder to cry on. These were the people I really knew and who really knew me. These were the people whose parents became some of my parents' closest frends, too. These are the people I have kept up with since we all parted ways for college. These were my best friends. This was my squad.

Coming to college was scary, though. I was leaving my church and my school and entering into a whole new world where I didn't know anyone. I quickly realized that I had spent the majority of my years growing up in school with all of the same people, so I was at a loss. What was I supposed to do? How does this whole "making new friends" thing work? So I tapped into my inner-extrovert and started meeting people. By a couple of weeks into the school year, I felt like I knew everyone, and I felt like everyone knew me! However, that quickly faded. Soon people began to settle into their friend groups, and I hadn't seemed to click just right with any of them. I suddenly felt alone.

Through the first few semesters of college, this was a reoccurring theme. Friends would come and go. Friend groups would form and change. Some people would grow close and others wold create distance. It was the constant ebb and flow of college society.

Then I figured it out. I remember one night toward the end of the fall semester when I was sitting in a classroom doing homework with a friend who I had recently began to grow closer with. It had been an especially hard semester for me, and I was beginning to feel hopeless in my search for community. When we were about to leave, he asked me if everything was OK, and we began to talk. We talked for several hours, and I began to see that this was a friendship that goes deeper than surface level.

From there, our friendship only grew, and through that, I became closer with a whole group of amazing people. These are people I have always admired and longed to be a part of, and it was finally happening. They welcomed me into their lives without a second thought, and they have never failed to show me what true, loving, Christ-centered friendship looks like. Through mountain-top highs and rock-bottom lows, these friends never leave my side.

They make me feel wanted and loved. They point me to Christ in everything we do. They prove to me every day that I can trust them, and they show me that they trust me, too. They are always ready with an encouraging word or a prayer. They are the people who can make me laugh uncontrollably and who I look forward to spending my time with. They support me in everything I do, and they encourage me to chase my dreams every step of the way. They hold me accountable and call me out when I need it. They make me "talk it out" even when I don't want to and push me to see the positive side of everything. They are the solid, steady foundation I have always searched for but never knew if I would find. They are years of prayers answered.

To you, friends, I would like to say thank you! Thank you for being who you are. I thank God for all of you every single day, and I would not be who I am without each of your influences in my life.