ConGRADulations: A Pilgrimage to My Alma-Mater

As an eighteen-year-old high school graduate, I could not wait to move to college. I had picked out all of the important stuff: Blue and yellow Laura Ashley comforter (university colors,) dishes, binders, trash can, shower caddy, and every other item I would need, all in full-out matchy-matchy style. 

I had picked out my roommate. Heaven forbid I actually succumb to pot-luck and get stuck with someone who I had no control over. (Control-loss is not my forte'.) I preferred to meet a girl at registration weekend and spend a few hours investigating her room-worthiness. Two hours seemed like a good amount of time to judge a stranger's character. Roommate secured: check!

I selected my major, Theatre. I spent most of my life majoring in drama (ask my dad)- paying to document my efficiency on paper seemed to be the natural next step. 

Details of the move were easy to orchestrate, but the one item I cared the most about was out of my control. I didn't care about a degree, I was securing a man. I had my eye on the prize, I wanted to graduate with a ring on my finger a Godly husband by my side.

Almost twelve years ago to the day, I moved into my new dorm, my new life. It was my first time on my own and I was full of joy and plans. 

I knew that my plans were just that, my plans. I'd been forewarned by many well-intentioned conGRADulatory greeting cards, wall plaques, and yearbook signatures:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11 must have been branded by the Hallmark corporation.  

As I drove up to campus for the first time, with all of my life packed in boxes and suitcases, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I prayed that the Lord's plans were to prosper me, but what if I had chosen poorly? What if I was wrong about the school? What if I'd picked the wrong major? The wrong roommate?

Twelve years have passed since that hope-filled summer. Tonight I reminisce from the same home that I moved out of as a high school senior. My husband and I are spending the night here before making the pilgrimage back to our alma-matter tomorrow evening. 

I am more excited about these next few days of reliving the glory years, then I was about beginning college twelve years ago. I am on the other side of the story.

My comforter looked great in my dorm room and all of my matching dishes and shower accessories were the talk of the whole dorm (or just me.) I know what I ended up majoring in, that God had different plans for my life than theatrics. I think it's probably because I realized that I didn't need to learn any more about drama than I was naturally born with... but I digress.

Tonight my heart bursts with gratitude over hopes realized.

My relationship with Christ blossomed and I began to pursue discipleship, the meaning of worship, and the sweetness of fellowship with the body of Christ. 

Relationships were gained through college life. The Lord was merciful to me. The roommate that I snagged, became a sister to me. The next year we added two more sisters to our entourage. The husband that I prayed so hard for, found me my freshman year and married me before we graduated. 

These next few days will open the floodgates of my heart, as I walk through a town where I first learned to love Jesus, met my husband, made life-long friends, was baptized, and worked in my first ministry jobs. My husband and I lived our first year as newlyweds here, we welcomed our first baby into the world here. 

I cannot wait to breathe the air in this town once more. It has been seven years since we last stepped foot in the central-Texas motherland and it's about time. Husband and I will take the town by storm with the help of our three best buds and their three hubs and there will be much laughing, reminiscing, local-dive touring, and heart-talking. 

And from this girl, there will be much rejoicing.

I will rejoice, because God has been so faithful. I left home, praying for more of the Lord, more of His presence. The verse following the graduation verse, Jeremiah 29:12 says:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

Twelve years ago, I called. I prayed. God heard. The Lord's plans were so much bigger, so much better, and so much more glorious than I could ever have imagined. He is good, and I am about to get my praise on in Brownwood. 

AAaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww, STING 'EM!! (Where my Howard Payne Yellow Jacket peeps?!)