Sophomore year of college is over. It's crazy to think about it because I feel like just the other day I was moving into my dorm room freshman year, and now, I'm halfway done with college. My sophomore year of college can only be described in one word: growth. This was the year that God taught me so much about myself, about people, and life.

This year I learned how to step out of my comfort zone. I learned how to be okay with being alone. I learned that if God is by your side, you can make it through any situation. While it seems dark at times, you will make it. Just trust him in all situations.

I learned that putting God first, and academics second, is the key to success in college. By putting God first in my life, I saw how He carried me through tough classes and hard exams.

He blessed me in more ways that I can attest to, and I truly saw His astounding grace and mercy, that I honestly don't deserve, throughout all of the fall semester, but especially during this past semester.

There were times when I shouldn't have passed exams and made excellent grades, but He didn't let me fall even when others were trying to bring me down.

I learned that when God is truly in control of your life, and you leave every area of your life to him, beautiful, unexpected things can, and do happen.

God brought wonderful friends into my life that I wasn't expecting and didn't even have to reach out to, in addition to providing for me in a way that only He could.

He sees ahead, and if we just let him work things out instead of going out on our own, I have seen how His hand shaped and molded my experiences the way they needed to happen.

I learned so much about myself. I found my voice and my independence. I learned to speak up for myself and to be my own advocate. Sophomore year helped me to be okay with who I truly am.

I have learned to stop caring about what others think because life is too short. I learned that there is freedom in being myself. Not everyone is going to click with my personality, and that's okay. I'm not living for others; I'm living to please Christ and to serve Him in everything I do.

I have seen the benefit in living for yourself, and if you are a believer, for Christ. Life is too short to be worrying about stupid, petty drama. Raise your voice, fight back and for whatever you believe in, dress the way you want, laugh loud, leave toxic friendships and relationships, and stick up for yourself. I don't care if nobody likes you, never let people tell you who and what to be. YOU DO YOU, AND BE YOU.

I have learned to live in the moment. When we focus on the past and obsess about the future, we miss what's happening to us in the now. We miss the funny moments with friends, the cool conversations in class, and the everyday awesome moments that life brings us.

Life is constantly changing: friends leave, relationships change and end, and material objects are fleeting. Focus on spending time with the people in your life now, and the season you are in currently, and just the daily experiences, good or bad. Take life one day at a time and live for each moment. Don't rob yourself of each day God has given you, because you'll live to regret it.

I remember always wishing for college to be over so that I could be out in the real world. I then realized that I'm only going to be in college once, and I want to fully enjoy my next two years. I don't want to spend the next two years of college obsessing over things that are not in my control like I did freshman and sophomore year.

I saw that there is no joy in boxing yourself in, but, in exploring and trying new things, and embracing all that college offers. I want to look back on my college years and say that I did everything that I always wanted to do.

No more obsessing over material things or statuses because I have seen that life cannot offer me the stability I once searched for: only Christ can. And if I look to Him, I will always feel stable, anchored, and rooted. So, it won't matter who stays or leaves: Christ never has, never does, and never will.

This semester has been a hard semester for our university. We faced a shooting resulting in a murder on our campus, racial slurs, and two unfortunate student deaths, one which impacted me in a way that was shocking, because I didn't even know this student. Yet, in all of that, I saw how our campus community came together in a vulnerable, open way, and to me, that was comforting.

Lastly, sophomore year helped me find my passions. This semester I decided to start going to a Zumba class, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I love dancing, and so I wanted to give it a try. What I thought was just a class, God used to teach me to be free, and live boldly.

At the beginning of the class I always just danced in the back because I didn't want anyone to see me really. I was so scared if I got any of the dance moves wrong and was always so focused on how I looked, that I missed out on the actual dancing part of Zumba.

By the end of the semester, and the last Zumba class of the school year, not only was I dancing in the front row, but I got to help co-lead the class on a few dances, which was super cool.

God used Zumba to show me that I don't have to be a perfect dancer, that nobody is watching me because they are too busy focusing on themselves, and that at the end of the day, if I'm having a lit time: who cares how I look? I'm not at Zumba to impress others with my dance moves, I'm at Zumba to get exercise and to dance.

In closing, to the rising college sophomore, I want to offer you this: this year will challenge you, and many things will probably change for you, because you will change and grow as a person, and your classmates and friends will change, and go through their own seasons of growth.

Amid whatever happens, cling to Christ, put Him first, and go after and try everything and anything you have wanted to do, but also take time for yourself. Live free and be brave.

Because before you know it, you'll be like me; looking back and wondering where in the world sophomore year even went.