What are people around you learning?

I hope that you enjoy reading a couple of the things that these friends on mine shared on here. I am very thankful that these people reached out and wanted to share the things that God is doing in their lives. I love doing stuff like this because it gives the readers a chance to read about what God is doing in other peoples lives, not just mine. 

God has taught me so much this past semester.. and it’s hard to pin point one thing.  Though, I think God has taught me to LOVE this past semester.  This world is so broken, and I am continued to be reminded to love my people and even strangers...no matter the circumstance! I have found that it is the most influential thing I can do.  Even though it can be so challenging to love, it is what God calls us to do 24/7.  I constantly need to remind myself to make time for the people in my life, even when life is crazy busy. 

- Brooke Conrady

Going back to high school even, God has taught me a lot about dealing with unexpected occurrences. Not just dealing with them, but he also taught me and the rest of my family about all of the great people in this world and that we are surrounded by: family, friends, teachers, coaches, etc. With my dad going through the health problems that he has, my family was dealt some unexpected cards. I would’ve never guessed that as a junior and senior in high school I would have to take over some of the roles in the family my dad normally did since I was the oldest. I needed to make sure I was there to help out my dad and also take care of my younger brother and my mom. We were taught, however, that we have so many great people around us and who care about us. Myself personally, I have great friends who were always there for me and checking in on my family and continually praying for us and my dad. I also had coaches and teachers who were super understanding and who were also super caring about us. Some of the things that these people did for me are things I will remember for the rest of my life. Even to this day, with him going through some more problems, I still have some of these same people reaching out to me and to my family, which speaks again to the type of people they are. I obviously knew how great these people were and the type of people they were before these events, but after going through what we went through and having others react like they did is just a great example of how thankful we are by who God has surrounded us with. 

There are so many things to be thankful for in life and so many different things you can learn and be taught and even if they aren’t always in the situation that you would necessarily want, they still end up having good outcomes. 

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

- Logan Hogrefe 

What I’ve learned this year:

1. People weren’t raised the same way as you were therefore they don’t have the same values or perspectives. This can be heartbreaking...but other times I️t can be refreshing and helpful. 

2. When you find your purpose, there will be so many people who disagree with you and they will go out of their way to try to shut you down. Keep pushing because you offer a brand new perspective to the world. And God planted that passion within your heart for a reason

3. As you grow up and become who you were meant to be, people will come and go. Each person that you encounter has an effect on the person you become. Some serve as mentors—they build you up, encourage you and push you to be better. Others serve as lessons—they may hurt you but they teach you something about the world and about yourself. When you encounter those type of people just remember that temporary pain leads to lasting strength. 

4. You can search for fulfillment and purpose your whole entire life, but at the end of the day, only a relationship with God will make you feel whole and complete. Life without God is pointless. And very lonely. 

5. Time is so short. Don’t stress out too much about the little things. That doesn’t mean slack off or not care..but don’t put all your efforts in the wrong things. Yes, study for the test. Yes, read the chapter but don’t make yourself sick over getting an A versus getting a B. Instead, spend an adequate time studying well (this is keyyyyy...studying WELL) and then spend the other time doing something that you enjoy. Build relationships, eat the junk food, watch too much Netflix because in a few years you won’t have that freedom anymore. 

6. This is something I️ have to remind myself every single day....you are not the things you do. Your gpa isn’t who you are. Your major isn’t who you are. Your sport isn’t who you are. Don’t put your whole identity in the things you do because you are SOOOO much more than that. Put your whole identity in being a child of God. A child of God who plays a certain sport to honor him. A child of God who enjoys a specific hobby, is studying a specific subject, going into a specific career, in order to praise him. This is how we should view ourselves. The minute you see yourself as only an athlete...well imagine how lost and empty you’d feel if that sport was taken away from you. 

- Cassie Shelton

Something I've learned recently would be that it's okay that you don't have it all together, God's word says, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" and goes on to say, "for when I am weak, then I am strong." This is powerful because it calls us to rely on God's power instead of our own and it says that we're not called to be "strong" but to be weak because Christ is our strength! 

- Natalie Hoist

God is teaching me SO MUCH lately. Through a couple recent months of a new ministry with homeless and less fortunate people, God has changed my heart in ways I had never anticipated, and in ways I didn’t realize I even needed heart-work. I’ve witnessed incredible generosity as people behind the scenes have enabled our team to go bless and love others, and offer life-altering hope, in the name of Jesus Christ. As so often happens, we jump into a ministry opportunity to go help others, but in return, our own lives are changed along the way. God has been teaching me a lesson in humbleness by allowing me to see that modeled in beautiful ways by those I’m privileged to serve alongside.

- Rosemary Fisher (my awesome mom)

Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”

For me, something I have learned this past semester is to not base all my friendships on convenience. As a fellow student athlete, most of my friendships have revolved around my small section of the track team. Most of the friendships outside of track have been with my roommates and people in my classes. For me, these relationships have always been convenient because they are always the people I am around the most. As an individual who has always struggled with being intentional with my friendships, this was a real challenge for me.

This past May, I went on a Task Force trip to Alaska. For me, I only knew a few of these people from classes and by word of mouth. Everyone else was completely new to me. In the three weeks we were together, sleeping seven people in a room, sharing new and unique experiences really solidified these friendships while we were up there. When we returned to our homes for the summer, we did not have to stay in touch with each other, yet we did. We created a GroupMe and talked all summer long. We use it to plan get togethers over the summer, joke around, and send each other prayer requests. These relationships did not have to be maintained. Each one of us could have gone our separate ways, yet we continued to be there for each other. When we came back to school, we went to sporting events for our teammates, played sand volleyball late into the night, and goofed around.

I did not have to hang out with them, yet I chose to maintain these relationships. I now walk into class and know someone. I am more comfortable signing up for things that I may not have done in the past year. I am now more willing to sit by someone I do not know in class and talk to them. I can go up to someone and ask to sit with them at lunch. To some people, it might not seem like a big deal. But for me, I have always waited for people to make the first move, so this is a very big deal to me. I have always struggled with making friends, so to go and make friends with people who are not on my team or my roommates is hard.

Being intentional with friendships is the biggest thing I have learned this semester. I now can go out of my way to sit with new people at lunch. I build friendships with people outside of the throws team. I go to church with friends from classes. My friend group has become more dynamic simply because I go out of my way to be friends with people who I normally would not be friends with. Earlier in the semester, I went out with a group of these friends and it hit me, I had never really had a group of friends to do this kind of stuff with. I almost cried. Because of the intentionality, I now had friends to go out with and do spontaneous stuff with.

Being intentional in your relationships is important. You do not have to be friends with someone just because they share a common interest. Be intentional. Do not just stay where you are comfortable. If you do, you may not meet the coolest person. That is how I have met some of my best friends and the most incredible people. For me, learning to be intentional is changing how I am making friendships. So be intentional. Meet new people. Get out of that comfort zone and have fun. Have friends who are different.

God has shown me that being intentional is very important. I have met so many people through Him and it has been wonderful. I have gone new places, tried new things, and have gotten to have many experiences that only have happened by being intentional through God. I have gained confidence in my abilities to go out of my way to meet people and try new things. I am more confident in myself. It is never too late to become more intentional in your relationships. You never know the impact that your relationship will have on someone.

- Maddy Roth 

Reflecting on this first semester, I realized that so much has changed from my first year at college. I’m fortunate enough to be apart of an athlete bible study group at Lewis University that meets every week to talk about how God is moving in our lives. We’ve had many people lead and every single one was a great message that I learned from greatly, but there was something else that God put me through this semester that will have a lasting impact for the rest of my life. So, a couple people including myself from our bible study group had made PB&J sandwiches, about 60, and planned on going to Chicago to pass them out to the homeless. This was the last week of the semester, so it was chilly outside! Once we arrived we got off the train on a mission to do God’s work! We had been walking around for about an hour and had only passed out a few sandwiches. At this point the cold was almost unbearable. We walked around some more and one of my friends brought up the idea of going underneath the streets by the train station where most homeless go to try to stay warm. I became a little hesitant, but I knew God called us here for a reason. We reached the stairs, walked down, and immediately saw a group of people around 30 lined up against a wall—with tons of blankets—surrounded by garbage trying to bare the cold. At this time we had around 45 sandwiches to pass out. Three of my friends went into the area where the homeless were sitting and began passing out the sandwiches. I personally had never seen a sight like this before, so it was a lot to take in at once. I became emotional because my heart hurt so bad for these people. Here I was complaining about the cold and how I couldn’t wait to get inside when these people live this day and night surviving on the food people throw away. The one thing I won’t forget is one of the signs that I saw one of the homeless people had made. It’s said, “please help us we need a miracle.” I believe that night, even though these 45 PB&J sandwiches were something small, it answered prayers for many of them. God had taught me a great lesson that night. Though it was a tough sight to see, it needed to be put into the spotlight. God put us there that night for a reason. God taught me to be grateful for the things, opportunities, and support that I have because many don’t get any of those at all. Yet, it’s so important to know that to give is a lot more fulfilling to the heart than receiving! Be someone’s miracle, answer the prayers God sent you to answer! 

-Allie Piatt

This past semester I was able to experience the true power of God’s love. Romans 5:8 says “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. I have a tendency to pack up all my wrongs, emotions, and problems and bag them all up. And because of that, I’m one of my biggest enemies. I’ve been rather selfish and focused on solely myself in past years. I was only worried about what made me look good or stand out. And that turned me into a person I wasn’t proud of. I made mistakes, I made poor decisions, and I made myself insecure and felt undeserving of anything “good”. This semester in New Testament we read the book of Romans and my world was flipped upside down. I realized that even at my worst, God hadn’t left me. I realized that when I tried to forgive myself and it seemed impossible, God already had. And when I didn’t even love myself, He did. God doesn’t leave, God doesn’t forget about us when we mess up, and He surely never stops loving us. From the past Taylor to the new, I’ve come a long way. (And it’s much more enjoyable to be proud of the new me rather than be embarrassed by the old.) Knowing I’m loved unconditionally by God has given me such joy and happiness. An amazing family, an awesome (and Hot) boyfriend, the greatest of friends, a fantastic church, being a coach, succeeding in school; this is just a beginning list of the blessings that God’s given me. And He wouldn’t have made all that possible if He didn’t. It wasn’t until recently that I realized God has been showing His love to me in so many ways and I simply didn’t take the time to realize. The saying “my past doesn’t define me” may be overused and cliche, but through God’s love I’ve found the truth in it. Not only did I need to forgive and love myself, I needed to realize just how much God still and will always love me. My hope is that if you’re reading this, you’ll be encouraged to take an extra second to look at the blessings you’ve been given and be reminded of how much God loves you too.

- Taylor Miller

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

This passage is very well known and an easy one to go to. During the past few months God has shown me things that I needed to see and understand. Especially that things will not always go my way and that God’s plans are so much greater than I could even imagine. I’ve learned that there are relationships that need to be nourished but also ones that are okay to fade away, and all you can do is pray for those relationships. If it’s God’s will for those friendships to be reunited, they will, on his timing. I’ve learned that in hard times I’m thankful for those that have prayed for me and now I understand more than ever how important it is that I pray for friends, family, and even those who have hurt you, for Gods love & grace in their lives as well as in the fellowship God desires. I’ve learned as my relationship with Jesus Christ continues to grow, my love, grace, and understanding has also grown towards those He has brought into my life. 

-Jennifer Cromartie