Hey, L. Jessie readers! It has been a while since I posted on here. I am excited to get back into the blog and share what God is doing in my life! These past few months have been some of the best times of my life, and it is all because of God.
I started my freshman year here at the University of Tennessee back in August. On my graduation cap back in May, I wrote the lyrics from "Oceans" by Hillsong United, "Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders" with the "t" in trust being a power T. I felt many different emotions, but fear definitely was the main one. Once I got settled in, that fear left and has never once returned. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am right where God has intended for me to be in this season of life.
The main way God has shown me His goodness over this time has been primarily through my best friends, Skyler and Keerthana. Those nights I spent in high school asking God for true friends who would be there through it all, I know He was thinking, "My daughter, just wait. I have the best in store for you, and you will meet them soon enough."
Skyler is my roommate and makes me laugh harder than almost anyone can. Keerthana pursues the Lord relentlessly and never fails to point me back to Him. It is amazing that God would allow us to become friends but even more amazing that He would put all of us on one floor. There is truly no better feeling than seeing a prayer so evidently answered.
This season is teaching me more of God's faithfulness and how to trust Him completely. I have always had at least some trust in Him, but there have definitely been moments that I did not lean on Him like I should have. Living on my own, I have no other person to turn to but to my Father, and it has transformed how I handle stress and worry.
I have literally felt the Holy Spirit speak to my heart and help me keep going when there was no way I could do it alone. I walk to class with a smile on my face because I know I am walking right with the God of the universe. I see this time in college as an adventure that He and I get to experience together.
My favorite class this semester has been Hebrew, and I know what everyone is thinking: why would you take such a complicated language? I simply wanted to learn more about the Old Testament and the original text. It has been eye opening and really advanced my Bible study because I now look deeper at what the original text said and meant. I highly recommend it.
I will say though that at the beginning of the semester I was super discouraged because most people in the class had at least some background in Hebrew; whereas, I had basically none besides knowing a few Old Testament words. I felt like I would never catch up and that it would not actually change how I study the Bible. Satan used this insecurity to tell me lies that I was wasting my time and that I would never be adequate enough to learn anything about this language.
I finally stopped listening to the lies of the enemy and started asking the Lord to allow me to learn at least one new thing each time I went to Hebrew. With this mindset, the class I felt the most discouraged about became my favorite class. This is just a simple story, but it paints the bigger picture so well. God can take your failures and turn them into something better than you could ever imagine.
With all of this being said, I encourage each of my readers to take a leap of faith. Go where your "trust is without borders." Allow God to take you to places you never thought possible, and you will find spiritual growth there.
