As my freshmen year of college comes to a close and all of my new friends pack their bags to return home, I realized how much I've actually accomplished this year. I was afraid and just plain didn't want to be here at the beginning of the year. It took a lot of tears and prayers to get me in the good place that I am in today and I know that some day (soon probably) I will fall short of being strong. I will lose my balance and I'll take a wrong turn. I'll make a bad decision here and there too, but through all of this chaos I know one thing will be stable: my God.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

I was looking through some of my favorite bible verses when I came across this one from 2 Corinthians and it spoke to me. I have been pressed on and perplexed for sure but I was able to over come that through faith and prayer. I was once very dependent on others to be happy and let other people control my feelings. I still get butthurt when things don't go my way but that's normal and I'll get over it because I know that God has something better for me. He has the main blueprint of my life and I just have the little key at the bottom of the page, if even that. Even though I feel destroyed and like my life won't go on, it will. The sun will rise tomorrow morning and you will have another day to make your own. This verse from 2 Corinthians just proves that we're supposed to struggle and we're supposed to lose our way but we will always find our way back. Each struggle and each time we are struck down, it's so we can get back up and grow stronger.

The world fights against you and makes it hard sometimes to stand strong even though you are using every single muscle in your body to hold you up. Even though it might seem like the end, it's not because you are not crushed. You are not defeated when you stand by God; He will not let you fail. I'm a strong believer in everything happens for a reason and it's all a part of a bigger plan that we don't know. I've seen others that I care dearly about fall off of their path or at least think they have fallen off when the truth is, God is just taking you a different way. He throws challenges and struggles at us to make us stronger, physcially, mentally and spiritually.

To those who feel as if they are destroyed or crushed, just know that something better is coming. I hope in your time of need and sorrow you think of this verse or another that proves that God is on your side. I hope you know that even if you fall, you will stand up with the help of something bigger than anyone will ever know, God's love and guidance.