Go get 'em girl

Those were the words my dad told me as he was hugging me goodbye on Sunday. As I turned away and walked to the steps that would lead me to my dorm room, those were the words I heard in my head... "go get 'em girl". I walked up the stairs, waved goodbye and yelled "I love you too" back to my mom, dad and brother pulling away in their car.

Walking back to my dorm room I experienced what I never would have dreamed I would have felt. But I felt a distinct sense of peace. Over the next few days, that sense of peace would not leave. It was the sense of peace that tells me I am right where I need to be. The sense of peace that reminds me that this place, William Jessup University, is a stepping stone to help me reach my dreams.

Over my desk is this picture:



My dreams are why I am at Jessup. They are why I chose to pack up and leave home. Leave comfort, normality, routine, my family and come live in a totally new place. A place filled with awkward moments, an enormous amount of new faces, community bathrooms and college food. Yes, I knew it would not be "comfortable". But when God calls you to do something, He never says it will be "comfortable". Rather, the opposite.

I've been reading through Genesis and I'm at the life of Abraham. Leaving Morgan Hill is nothing compared to what Abraham was called to do. In chapter 12, verse 1 God tells Abraham (at this point Abram), to "get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you". He goes on to explain that He will bless Abram by making him a great nation, his name great. If I was Abram, I would have missed the whole blessing part. I would have stopped listening after that whole leaving everything I knew and I loved part. I would have started to worry and probably have tried to find a way around what God was calling me to do. Back then, there was no Facebook, no cell phones, no email or Skype. That's what kept me from totally falling apart while I was saying goodbye- the blessings of technology. But Abram and Sarai had nothing of that sort. And on top of that, they didn't have an absolute clue as to where they were going. God called them to go and He said He would let them know when they had arrived at this place He had picked.

Thankfully, God saw fit to show me where I am supposed to go and be. These past fews days, God has revealed again and again that Jessup has just the resources I need to see my goals be reached and I'm just in awe at how amazingly beautiful it is to see the power of God at work.

Saying goodbye to my mom, dad and brother was the hardest part of this experience. We went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and I cried again and again at our table. I bawled in the car and as they drove away and I walked back to my car, I teared up. But what kept me from losing it as I walked away from my family's car were my dad's words that still play in my head 3 days later- "go get 'em girl". Simple words yet they reminded me of so much. They now serve as a constant reminder that leaving everything I know and love has a reason, a purpose. God wouldn't call me to this point if He didn't have a plan in mind. He knows all my thoughts, goals and dreams. He gave me these dreams. And He will be at my side as I follow the words my dad told me for the next four years and beyond... "go get 'em girl".