Growing up in the South meant that you attended church every Sunday. It was just expected.

The boys you dated needed to come from a good family and he needed to have a good relationship with God.

You brought your friends to church with you and you spent your Friday nights at youth group lock-ins.

There are a few of us that kept a good head on our shoulders through high school and stayed strong in our faith.

When we go to college, we think that we are going to be able to be strong and keep our Christian values. Good luck with that.

There are so many temptations that you are going to face.

The cute guy that you’ve been talking to that wants you to come over and “hang out”.

Your friends want you to go to a party with them and you say you’ll be the DD but drunk people are hard to tolerate when you’re sober.

Sleep sounds so much better than sitting through a church service because you know you don’t get a lot of sleep in college.

Being a Christian in college isn’t easy.

Your high school self says, “Oh yeah, it’s so easy to turn down a drink.” It’s not. You don’t want to be a buzz kill so you take it.

He’s cute and seems really nice so why not go over to his place?

It would be embarrassing to fall asleep in church so I’ll just go next week.

I have faced all of these things during my time in college. I thought surrounding myself with Christian friends as soon as I started school would do the trick and help me stay on track. That sure didn’t work.

I have been faced with so many obstacles that I haven’t handled the way I always thought I would. There have been times where God wasn’t even a thought in my mind.

My advice to you would be to try your best to stay true to who you are and that might not be who you were raised to be.

College is supposed to be where you find yourself. If you have been told how to live your whole life, then you might not truly know who you are.

It’s okay to wander from your walk with God.

Most people are probably freaking out after that statement but here’s what I mean by that. If your parents raised you to be a strong Christian and you veer from the path that you’re expected to be on, you will find your way back. It might take a while but God will welcome you back with open arms.