SUMMER.

It’s here, my dudes.

SUMMER.

For the past eight weeks I’ve been taking summer courses and as of Friday at 11:59 pm., I am FREE.

It feels surreal that I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow and try to squeeze in a few hours of school work before work work at the coffee shop. I’ve been a full time student since January with my longest break being a week. That’s insane to look back on. Let me just say first hand, when they tell you time flies, they mean… TIME FLIES. I cannot fathom that I’m three classes away from sophomore status. That’s a major victory.

I know I’ve been a terrible blogger lately, but I think the whole “college” thing and all the other things I’m about to share will be a solid excuse. Life has been crazy. But it’s been abundant. I couldn’t ask for a better journey, even on the long nights, early mornings, frustrating papers, and overcommitted days. I’m grateful for it all.

I can confidently say that this has been my most impactful term so far. The classes I took have impacted me in ways I can only begin to explain, and in ways that will continue to impact me for years to come.

New Testament Survey was LIT. (Sorry, I’m studying to be a youth pastor, I’m allowed to say “lit”.)

These past eight weeks have showed me how much of a Bible nerd I truly am. Seeing the allusions to Old Testament history, learning about the hearts of the authors who wrote the letters, SOBBING (literally) my way through Revelation while joyfully anticipating the moments to come, it was all amazing. I got to tangibly use so much of what I learned in this class during this class! Getting to teach the Bible to thirty kids at a summer camp and starting a girl’s ministry with my two best friends have just been the beginning of utilizing all I’m learning. And don’t you worry, I have pictures and more details about those two things. Duh.

Evangelism 101? More like Convicting 101.

It was what it sounds like: a class teaching the foundation, purpose, and methods of evangelism. It was challenging, growing, and often times heavy. The most beneficial aspect was the testimonies my professors shared about their experiences evangelizing and the life change they witnessed. I often found myself thinking, “Man, that would be awesome if I had an experience like that.” And to which God would ALWAYS reply, “You can. That’s why you need to pay attention to this class and trust me.” God tore down those lies and showed me I’m more than capable of sharing His name.

Intercultural Communication and Engagement was a doozy. In all honesty, it was more convicting than Evangelism. By like…. a million times. Our focus was cultural intelligence and utilizing our cultural intelligence to better serve this world and share the gospel (remember y’all… this is Liberty University… it’s ALL about sharing the gospel. It’s dope.). We took a cultural intelligence test to determine where we stand. The good news is that cultural intelligence is moldable and everyone can grow in their understanding and ability to adapt to other cultures. The bad news is that I’m culturally incompetent. Literally. The results might as well have said those exact words. That was the gist of my scores. They phrased it a little more positively but it was borderline awful. Sooo… needless to say I have some work to do. But grateful to say I now have the knowledge and foundation to grow that intelligence.

Overall, this term was incredible. The learning and life change that took place within me is immeasurable and I am so thankful for these courses, professors, and Liberty, as always. I often catch myself looking back at the last couple years when I was literally fed up with seeing so much hype over LU. I tend to be closed off to things that are overly hyped (I hate Frozen. I know I just lost 100 friends, but I truly hate it.), but let me tell ya, this school cannot receive enough hype. I will be eternally grateful for this school.

ALRIGHTY IT’S PICTURE TIME!

THESE GIRLS. Watch out for them. They love Jesus and others so well. SO well. We took a leap of faith these past two months or so and boy oh boy am I so lucky God placed them in my life to take this leap with. These also followed me around Camp for a week and carried all my junk and set up my room and loved on my campers just as much as I did.

I had the most incredible opportunity to teach a Bible study track at the summer camp my church participants in. I taught “How to Study the Bible” and adored every moment. It felt so right. It was the most peaceful week and in my humble opinion, I had the best campers. They dug DEEP, shared from their hearts, and I’m confident they walked away from Camp more in love with Jesus than when they were dropped off. What more could you want.

Our leap of faith! My two besties and I began a girl’s ministry/small group/Bible study and I could not be more in love with what Jesus is doing here. These girls are FIRECRACKERS of grace, love, humor, acceptance, beauty, and the list goes on and on. Thursday nights are JESUS FILLED. His presence is inescapable. I have left the past three weeks glowing from what He is doing. We laugh, we cry, we drink cookie dough iced coffee, and we talk LIFE. Is it Thursday yet? Ugh. So much love.

Here’s my best friend in all of his glory. In the past month he has ransacked my purse in the middle of the night, threw a baby bunny across our yard, ate a tub of cream cheese (#relatable), and given the BEST cuddles of life. He’s a man of many talents.