Elementary school. Middle school. High school. College. Get a job. Get married. Start a family and help them begin this cycle for themselves.

That's what we grow up thinking we are supposed to do. We grow up learning that school is the most important thing in our life, and we really shouldn't deviate from that plan. It's a waste of money, and you need to start your life as soon as possible. High school will take you 4 years. College another 4, so by the time you're 22 you should be well on your way to living your adult life. I grew up thinking this. I worked hard those 4 years of high school so that I would get into a good college, and once I did, I worked hard so that I would get into a good grad school.

I worked hard in college for a year, until it all became too much for me. I quickly realized that I was burnt out.

I was living for someone else's timeline for my life. I realized that I had never even taken a second to think about what I wanted to do after I graduated high school, or if I even wanted to go straight into college, because it seemed like an obvious answer. Of course I do. That's what you're supposed to do. How could I not?

But my sophomore year of college, I couldn't. I took a year off, and despite everything I thought---it was the best decision I've ever made. I learned a lot through that, more so than I could ever put into words, but I'll do my best to try.

College is an amazing place. You learn how to be on your own without actually being "on your own." You are constantly surrounded by all of your friends. You can essentially do whatever you want without anyone telling you not to. It's a great place.

But it's also a place that expects a lot out of you. They expect you to make it to class and keep up those good grades they accepted you for. They expect you to make your own decisions, but to make the right ones, and above all they expect you to grow up.

When I took a year off, I thought it was going to be a year of just ministry work. I thought I would complete the program I had signed up for, and once it was finished I would go right back to Anderson University the same person I was when I left. That is partially true, but that time away grew me in ways I never expected so when I went back, it was impossible to go back the same person I was before.

When you are jerked out of that cycle that you have always known, whether by choice or force, it forces you to look at the world in a different light. This light can either keep you down, or motivate you to take what you see and learn and use it to get back on, maybe not that cycle, but your own cycle. Your own timeline of how your life should be.

That year away taught me more about life than anything else ever could've. What I want my life to look like. What GOD wants my life to look like. Not what society tells me it NEEDS to look like.

Maybe your path in life is not as direct and straight as you thought it would be, and maybe that's a scary thought. But I can promise you that if God calls you to a different path, it's only because He has extraordinary things waiting for you along every twist and turn.

Maybe you haven't been called to take a year or 6 months, or any time off of school. That's okay too. Because I know that if He keeps you on that journey you've always set out for yourself that He'll keep using the things you've always had around you to continue growing and molding you into who He needs you to be.

But, time off was the call God placed on my heart. A step back was what He knew I needed, even if I didn't understand it at the time.

I would tell anyone that my decision to leave for a period was the sweetest, scariest, most challenging and rewarding season I have experienced yet. It was a season of uncertainty, worry, and doubt, and my God showed up in a way I could've never imagined. He brought me closer to my friends, restored my love of school and learning itself, healed the broken pieces of my heart, and opened my eyes to THE number 1 most important thing I should be focused on----my relationship with Him.

I'm grateful for the path God allowed me to go on, and I'm so thankful for the place He has brought me to. It's amazing the big things He will use to grab your attention when you won't listen to His quiet voice.