I would say for most people, going to college out of state can be extra challenging. You're leaving everything you've ever known. Well, for some of us...that can be a good thing.

When I left my hometown for my freshman year of college, I was completely ready. I would miss my family, but there were so many other things I wanted to leave behind.

I left the school and church I had attended my entire life in my senior year of high school, for various reasons. There was a lot I wanted to change about the situation, but nothing I could do. People I had known my entire life, people that had held me as a baby, held my hand as I'd grown up, people that had promised to help guide me through high school and life's dilemmas - those same people turned their back on me and watched me crash and burn. I was ready to get away from that reminder.

When you live in a small town, it's easy to see the same people everywhere. You'll see your teachers, colleagues, and fellow church members everywhere. Well - when you aren't part of a school or church anymore, you kind of don't want to see those people anymore. And they don't want to see you either. After awhile, the fact that they will do an about face in the bread aisle of the grocery store just to avoid you gets tiresome. I was ready for a fresh start where no one knew me.

Although my family had joined a new church, I avoided relationships with pretty much anyone at our new church. In hindsight, I realized how many people reached out to me and how many people did understand what was going on at the time. I am now completely settled in this church, and have wonderful relationships with so many new people. But at the time, I thought that all church goers were going to end up being the same. I didn't want any more opinionated lies shoved at me; I didn't want to get caught up in anything else just to find out it wasn't real. I was ready to leave church.

Fast forward to college! When I arrived, I was scared but ready to learn. I loved my chosen major, I loved my roommates, I loved the new area I lived in! Everything about college was wonderful; why would I ever want to go home?!

Well...several reasons. College makes you grow up. You become independent, you form more of your own opinions, and you have the opportunity to stand on what you truly believe in.

I have realized that although I was so hurt by situations throughout high school, I was also taught and made strong by these lessons. My junior year of high school made me who I am today, and I have come to appreciate the fact that because I had to stand up and fight for what I believed, I am now willing to do that again if I'm ever in a situation that requires it.

I have also learned that just because you might see negative people everywhere, it doesn't mean that where you are or what you are doing has to become negative. My fun trip to Walmart to get a candy bar with my boyfriend doesn't have to end on a bitter note just because I've dodged and avoided people from my past. Every situation is larger than the small details! I might love the area that my college is in...but there's no place like my hometown. However, if I had never left my hometown, I would never have realized this. A fresh start makes your old paths seem even sweeter.

Lastly, church. All my life, I said I hated small country churches because everyone knows everyone. Now that I attend a mega-church at college, I have changed my mind on that. I absolutely love and miss my little country church at home. Turns out, it's not church that should matter the most. It's your desire to have a relationship with Christ and be in His will; a desire that I have rediscovered here at college. Don't get me wrong - church is important, but I made the mistake of thinking church was all I needed in high school. Church wasn't what I needed at all - God was what I needed. Now that I am 1,000 miles away from my home church, I miss the familiar faces, I miss the worship style. I am so glad that leaving home has returned me to where I should be spiritually.

Going away for college has helped me to come home. Come home without anger or bitterness at the things that happened in my little world at home. Helped me to come home to my HOME - my family and those whose who love me. Lastly - helped me come home to Jesus.