Let's Catch Up

I haven't written in a while and I thought it might be a good time to catch you all up on what has been happening in my life and what God has been teaching me these past 4 months. While this year looks very different than last year at this time, life has not been easy.

This semester has been the most academically challenging thus far into college. I have had a very busy class schedule and the workload outside of class has kept me busy as well. It has been challenging to maintain a social life outside of class. But I am almost finished with the semester and I am so excited for what God has in store the rest of my sophomore year.

This year has stretched me in new ways and I have already learned so much more from God. I'm gonna say it again, college is hard. Yep. It is one of the hardest, if not THE hardest thing I have ever done. But it has pushed and shaped me in ways that I would not take back for anything. College has made me a braver person, a stronger person, and a more intentional follower of Christ.

This year I have continued to struggle with being overwhelmed and getting too far ahead of myself. I tend to look farther into the future than I should be allowed to. It is really hard for me to focus on what is right in front of me without looking at how it could affect me in the future. Which then you can imagine makes making decisions quite a difficult task for me.

With that, I did decide to change my major again. I know, I know. Interior design was the focus of this blog. But, I am not gonna stop writing. I love writing and it is one of my passions. So as long as you guys keep reading, I will keep writing. While I am no longer an interior design major, my focus will continue to remain "creating space for Jesus" because I still believe that a healthy relationship with Christ is rooted in our willingness to create space for Him in our lives and let Him into our hearts. I might talk a little less about interior design, but I still enjoy decorating and will let you in on some tips or DIY projects I find.

You are probably wondering what I switched my major to? I changed to a communication major with a concentration in organizational communication. It has been a major that I have considered in the past. After thinking and praying about it, this seemed to be the best middle ground for social work and interior design. I will share a bit more of my decision making process in a future blog post so stayed tuned.

Besides the pressure and stress of changing my major yet again, I have also been dealing with lots of different relationships this semester. Some have not gone the way I had hoped, some have deepened in new ways, and I have made some new ones that have been so life giving and wonderful. Unfortunately, one of my relationships suffered greatly and ended with a lot of hurt feelings. I wish we could have worked it out and grown from it, but I know that this wasn't a surprise to God. Through the trails, I learned that I can make all the plans I want to, but the ultimate decider of my life is Christ. He has it all planned out and while this was a complete shock to me, He knew it was coming and He used this time to teach me more about who He is and who I am.

During this semester, I was able to dive deeper with certain relationships and learn how to love people better. I realized that the way I want to be loved, isn't necessarily how others want to be loved. It has been a priority for me to learn how people feel loved and show love to them in that way. I have also realized that people WILL let me down. That is a part of life. It comes with the territory of relationships. And that is okay! Realizing no one is perfect is important for me. You can love people so incredibly hard and they will still let you down, but it does not mean they don't love you. It means they are human. I know that I let people down. That is not to say that you have to lower your expectations of others. But, you do have to decide which relationships are worth being let down from time to time and still worth fighting for. Who continues to love you when you let them down? Those are the people to keep around for the long run. Relationships are a two-sided street and both sides have to realize that. Both people have to be willing to pursue the relationship, even in the hard times.

While I am ready for this semester to be SO over. I am thankful to God for continuing to teach me things in the hard times. He is using these hard times to mold me into who He wants me to be. Don't get me wrong, I have questioned Him and even been mad at Him at points during this semester. Change is exhausting and I thought that last year was all the change I would have to deal with for a while. But as I said earlier, we make our own plans and God holds different plans for us. That is one lesson I continue to keep learning.

Here are just some of the people that have shown me unconditional love during this trying semester. I love my people!