I’m going to start out by saying I love my freshmen roommates. They have become my best friends, and I am so thankful to have been randomly placed in their room. Before you can fully understand our relationship, some background information is necessary. I’ll try to keep this part short…

Leah and Grace had requested to room together going into freshmen year. I requested a random roommate. Botta bing botta boom – we became a triple. In an attempt to not make things awkward, they decided not to tell me they requested each other. That kind of worked. Also, I’m terrible at texting, so they thought I hated them before moving in (I did get the bottom bunk because of that…score!). The first month of school we were best friends and practically inseparable. Here is where things get confusing. Less than two months into the school year, everything turned upside down. Basically, I hated Leah and Grace and they hated me. Why? No one knows. The extent of these feelings escalated to Leah and Grace thinking about requesting new living conditions and me considering transferring schools. This lasted through first semester and well into second semester.

Come February, we slowly started to rekindle our relationship. By mid-May, Grace, Leah and I were once again inseparable. The only explanation any of us can come to for this change of heart is that it was truly a miracle and only possible through the grace of God.

Although I absolutely hated the months from October to February, in a strange way, I am thankful for them. It was through those few months and the months to follow that I was able to really see how the Lord provides. At the time, I didn’t understand the importance of some of the people and events in my life. However, looking back on the past year, I know that God had a reason for everything.

One way the Lord provided was through orientation board (if you read my last article, you know how important OB is to me. If you have not read it yet, check it out here!) I was assigned three amazing mentors last year who were so encouraging to me. They were so friendly, and I always looked forward to dinners with them. At the beginning of the year, I was just thankful for a fun group of upperclassmen to hang out with. As the year progressed, I was thankful for their friendship, kindness and words of wisdom through the difficult months.

Pledge week for sororities also came as a blessing in disguise. Designed as a time to bring the members of a pledge class together, pledge week also helped to bring me, Grace and Leah back together (even though none of us joined the same group). We were able to bond over how miserable we all were and show each other love through small acts of kindness to help make the week a little more bearable. That week was just the spark that allowed us to mend our relationship.

I get the chills when I think about the events of last year and how the Lord worked in and through all things. Of course, I would have preferred for last year to have gone smoother. However, I am thankful to witness the Lord’s hand at work in my life.