I'm sure you've all been wondering what's been going on in my life these past few months. Sorry I haven't updated this blog much. I've been busy juggling the responsibilities of life and just haven't had time to write a blog post (or at least it's felt that way). You probably remember me mentioning my discontent over having to return to Cedarville University this past semester. Well, I struggled with those feelings throughout the semester and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't locate the source. I didn't feel peace being at Cedarville, not like I used to feel my freshman and sophomore years there.
In October I visited Cleveland State University with my parents when I was home for my fall break and I really liked it. Soon after that I decided to apply to CSU and was accepted right away. Through much prayer and thoughtful consideration, I felt God calling me to attend CSU starting this semester. I felt that he was challenging me to get out of the "Cedarville bubble" and into the world to be salt and light to people at Cleveland State who need to hear about Christ. And to be quite honest, I didn't feel like I was growing in my faith at Cedarville. All of the great speakers and their messages seemed to be pushing around the same stuff and their challenges seemed more for people graduating and going on overseas missions trips. (I know that not all of the challenges were like that, but the majority seemed to be.) To clarify, I do want to go overseas at some point in my life to do missions, but I believe that that won't be for a long time, maybe ten years or more in the future.
There's this itching in my heart to go somewhere where there are few Christians and spread his love there. God is stirring in my heart a desire to dare to do great things in his Name and I'm placing my trust in him and walking by faith. The first step is transferring to Cleveland State and although I'm nervous about it, I know that God has my back and he'll watch out for me there. Those words that I hear in my head saying, "It's not safe there. You could get hurt. Do you really want to do this to yourself? Cedarville is a much safer place to be," may carry some truth, but the real truth is that the safest place to be is in God's will, and since God has called me to CSU, he will provide and care for me there.
I'm stepping out in faith and letting God take the lead. Although it's a never-ending struggle, I am doing my best to surrender everything to Christ. I've found that surrender is the key to living fully for Christ. Take a look at Luke 9:23: Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me."
Here's to a new chapter of life at CSU! I can't wait for what God has in store - I'm really grateful that he holds the future and his plan for our lives is for our good.
Love in Christ,
Jess
