At NC State, most of the Cru Bible Studies merge by area of campus. They merge into one women's study and one men's study for senior year because the upperclassmen who lead the lowerclassmen studies have graduated. This was the case for West (my area of campus) for my senior year.

Thirty girls who had been in various West studies were put in a group message and given the opportunity to meet together for bible study weekly. This can be hard because you have different groups of different sizes coming together, schedules might not line up, and a new leader with her own personal leadership style is facilitating.

I honestly spent the whole summer before senior year thinking about how this would be. Would it be weird? Would there be a lot of girls from a particular study? Would they be cliquish? Would it be surface level? Should I even still do Cru? I had a lot of ups and downs with my Bible study freshman through junior year and had not felt connected for most of junior year. All I could think of was the weekly meeting where I sat in the back with tears streaming down my face because I didn't have anyone to sit with.

I asked God to give me direction in how I was to be involved with Cru for my senior year. I truly did not know if I should be involved until I attended the Leaders' Retreat. It was there that I found out who would be leading the senior study and I did not know what to expect or what would come of this weekly time but I decided that I would commit to going, as well as any other Cru activities.

Flash forward to February and what a gift this study is to me. A group of like-minded people, some who knew each other all of college, some who just met this year, studying the Bible together, laughing and crying together. I am so thankful for this group. It is not perfect. There are some girls who have been in the study together all four years and so naturally they are close. There are some people who are not ready to go deep but there are others who are.

Most importantly Jesus shows up when we meet and I get to experience Him and His love through this mismatched group of friends, and that has been more than I could have asked for. It is a very unique experience, a group being formed out of several other groups right at a transition time, but what a great experience and answered prayer it has been for me.