Junior year will teach you that life is really short. It seems like just yesterday I was crying in the community shower in a dorm room missing home. It will teach you that you can push yourself a lot further than you think.
Junior year will remind you of who you are. It will take you pretty low sometimes, but that low point has a different view of the world that you forgot to see. These valleys will be sure to show you God's hand in everything, even the things that don't make any sense.
It will teach you to be yourself. You'll embrace your awkward a bit harder and laugh about it really really hard. Junior year will teach you the importance of community as you have your mid-college crisis. You'll look around at your friends and be in tears as you imagine leaving them one day. You realize just how cool your friends are and how lucky you are to have them.
Junior year will teach you that Jesus isn't just a religion that is a box you check on the SAT, but a comforter, provider, and lover in ways a college girl with a broken heart longing for some sort of peace can only barely, insufficiently explain.
It will teach you that boys are something that will always be around. Junior year will teach you that love isnt in a hurry. It will teach you that broken hearts are real but they make you stronger. You'll realize that being "alone" is one of the best things for you. You'll grow in so many ways, even when it hurts. Junior year will teach you that not everyone will like you and thats okay. Some people may only like you on Mondays, but love them anyway. It'll teach you a lot about forgiveness and grace, which you'll do everything in your power to fight against.
It will teach you that you'll fail sometimes and that a 58 on a test isn't the end of life as you know it. You'll cry in your car really hard about a grad test, but at the end of the day you know all too well that Jesus makes a way when there is none.
You will probably watch a lot of Netflix and feel guilty about it after you realize you spent that many hours. Junior year will teach you that The Office makes you laugh the hardest, Parenthood makes you cry a lot, Gossip Girl fills your inner diva, and Gilmore Girls is the best comfort show.
You'll miss your family a bit more as the times you go home get slimmer. You will cry your mom in the car a whole bunch in tears.
Junior year will teach you how to live more on your own. It will teach you how to cook more since you have no more dining plans in an apartment. It will also teach you that Wendy's four for four is a blessing.
Junior year will teach you how to budget money a bit better as you realize you have 6 dollars in your account yet again. It will teach you a bit about adulting as you take on new things like car payments. It'll also teach you that sometimes (most of the time) the Burritos trip was worth it.
It will teach you that you might have a coffee addiction. But hey, what's new?
Junior year will teach you the beauty of this life. As I am sitting in this student union on sweet Valdosta State University campus, I remember that scared high schooler May 29, 2015. Graduation caps and a whole lot of excitement, but more nerves than anything. I remember crying that it wouldn't work out. I was terrified I would have no friends. I had never even driven on the interstate, how was I going to drive 3 hours alone on I-75? I hungout with the same friends forever and they already knew my baggage. I didn't want to leave my comfort of a church I loved. I didn't want to leave home.
Junior year will teach you that Jesus worked it out. He worked it out better than I could of imagined. It will teach you that Jesus is home, wherever he may take you.
