Maybe you thought this article would be a list of all of the essential clothing items that college girls should be adding to their closets.
It actually is something even better, if that's even possible. Here are a few things I believe every college girl could use a little more of:
1. Faith
College is the first time when you get to make the decision for yourself about how much of a role you want your faith to play in your life. For a lot of us, it's a time where we fall off our "once committed" track of following Jesus, because if we're honest, it's easy to do. Little do we know, life in college could be so much more bearable if we spent a little more time having faith and a lot less time in doubt.
2. Patience
We, at this stage of our lives, have become so impatient. We want things to happen how we want them to happen and when we want them to happen. When it doesn't work out that way, we grow frustrated and often give up. If we only believed in God's ability to make things work in His timing, we would be far better off and could spend a lot less time worrying about what lies ahead.
3. Love
It's easy to love your best friends that you spend all of your time with in college, but what about those who are hard to love? Those who constantly seek conflict and drama or those who are significantly different than us? The world would be such a more pleasant place to live, work, and go to school if we all loved each other the way God created us.
4. Trust
Remember when you used to believe that God had a plan for each of us and that everything would work out the way it was meant to be? Well, guess what? That didn't change when you failed that biology test or got denied from your top grad school or got your heart broken by the boy you thought would love you forever. In those moments we need to have a little less panic and a whole lot more trust. It isn't easy, but God wrote the plans out for our lives before we took our first breath, so any tragedy you are currently facing can only pale in comparison to the joy you will face in the future according to God's plan.
5. Confidence
I don't know about you, but my self-confidence took a huge blow when I started college. I didn't realize it was possible to have so many beautiful, athletic, smart, Christian women in one place. College is a time for many of us where our self-confidence is at an all-time low, but it doesn't have to be that way. College should be a time where you truly find out who you are and who you were created to be, rather than living in constant comparison to those around you. God created you fearfully and wonderfully.
6. Passion
It is too often that I hear girls say that they picked a major because they "know that they will be successful" or "will make a lot of money". Of course those things are important, but if you can barely sit through a business economics lecture for 50 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, what makes you think that you can get out of bed excited to pursue that career for the rest of your working life? God wants us to find a major and career in which we can fulfill our purpose, thus something we are passionate about. We should wake up every day (maybe with the exception of days with 8 a.m.'s) feeling excited to learn and become better at what it is we want to do with our lives.
7. Perseverance
College is hard. There are going to be days when you beg your mom to let you drop out and pursue a job that doesn't require a degree, but it's important not to give up. It's important to remember that God doesn't give you more than you can handle and everything He puts in your path is for your best interest.
8. Joy
Life is short and college is even shorter. Enjoy your time at college–it's such a great place to learn and grow and be shaped into the person God created you to be.
So, can we all agree to live our college lives with a little less judgment, anxiety, fear, hate, and lack of faith, and a whole lot more joy, passion, confidence, and unwavering faith?
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7
