Home Sweet Arizona

I am being entirely sentimental right now.

I am laying in my little twin sized bed about to sleep my last night in my dorm room of my freshman year at Grand Canyon University. I literally cannot believe that the year has flown by so quickly. Literally I feel as if it were last week that I was filled with both excitement and worry about what was ahead of me. So quickly did it go from that awkward "I won't pee in the bathroom if you can hear me" with new roommates to late nights up talking about life from A to Z with the best of new friends.

I have spent countless nights studying, and more nights where I should have been studying but instead was building friendships of a lifetime or hanging with Jesus in the prayer chapel. I feel like it all began for me here at GCU. My life has changed drastically in many amazing ways. I have encountered some of the most incredible people I have ever met and hope to never live life without. I have seen my relationship with God get torn up and rebuilt on a solid and sound foundation of truth. I have been blindsided by family deaths, depression, a loss of identity, and a realization of who my true friends are -- however through it all I was given a community that helped me mourn and loved me even in my darkest hours.

My relationship with God has not blossomed but sky rocketed. I have never seen God from this perspective in my entire life. I have been constantly blown away and amazed by how much I learn DAILY about who God is and His desire for me, His love for people, and His never ending grace on my life. I have spent nights frustrated and confused about what truth is, to days basking in the goodness of it all. I never understood His sovereignty, or what grace even meant, or who I truly belong to until this year. I always went through the motions of church, but never had passion for them until this year. I have never longed for or hungered for Jesus as much as I do now. I never sought truth and wisdom the way I do now. I never realized how much I am in desperate need of his forgiveness and love. I can't say GCU did that for me, but it was here that I was found and here that I was changed.

So as I lay here and I realize how this year has flashed before my eyes I am basking in a heavy thankfulness for the ups and downs of this year. If next year is even half as good as this one I'm in for a ride.

I live such a beautiful life.