Living a Christian life in College

It started with Living a Christian life in College

In my first year in college, I recalled how many youths or new believers who come to church lose their faith very quickly because our enemy is very strong. So, I was determined not to lose God to anything.

The first day I went to college, I met my roommate and told her, “I pray a little differently.” I really thank God that He gave me this courage and strength to be straightforward to my roommate because it made my prayers in the room much easier.

During my five years at school, I really devoted myself to God. And one of the verses that come to mind is in Colossians 3:3 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The reason why I wanted to highlight this verse was that in college, it’s all about making a name for yourself, being someone, and standing out. Everyone is concerned with making as many friends and joining as many clubs as they could. But because I kept remembering the warning of how it’s very easy to lose yourself, I took this verse to heart and I wasn’t as involved and I wasn’t as concerned with making friends.

Be Obedient.  Practicing good habits to put obedience into action is very important.  So, every day for that entire first year and beyond, I read and studied the bible.

Schedule my God priority, not prioritize my schedule.  Although I lived far from church, I never missed a single Sabbath when I was in college. It took two hours total to get to church and then two more hours to get back home—one hour by commuter rail and one hour on the bus. But every Friday, when it was time for me to go on the train to go back for Sabbath, I always looked forward to it. Every Saturday night, when it was time to go back, I was always really sad. I felt like I was going back to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Even though the five years was a lonely time, it was also a time when I got to draw close to Him. Loneliness was strongest at nighttime, right before bedtime. But I do feel that every night, when I went to bed, that God would always comfort me to remind me that I wasn’t alone.

Patience in waiting for God’s timing—from job search and a move that brought my family to church.  I graduated after four years and went to another program and finished school in five years. My next big step was finding a job. I was very concerned because during my time in school, I hadn’t built up any working experience like internships. So, I felt that I wasn’t qualified for a lot of the entry-level positions that were posted. But I knew that God would take care of me. So first, I applied to so many positions, and for the first eight months after I graduated, I was unemployed. But then finally, in December of the year that I graduated, I got a phone call for an interview. This was also a great miracle because the position that they wanted to interview me for was for someone who had to have two years of experience. And I had none.  I don’t think that I’m that smart, but one thing that I do know about myself is that if God moves my heart to do something, I would do it. That has been my guiding principle in everything that I do since I’ve come to know Him.

So this first job that I got was great. It was a wonderful company with great coworkers and a great boss and I learned a lot. But that same year, I was talking with my family and we were thinking that the house market in Texas was pretty good, and that we should move there and start fresh. And I guess from another perspective, the decision to move might have been difficult, but for me, it was just very simple. It might have been more difficult for me if I started to think, “Well, I just got this new job and all of my family is in Boston, and I’m more comfortable here and this is what I’m familiar with.”

But because God moved my heart to come to Texas, I said, “Okay, I’ll tell my company that I’m leaving and I’ll find a job in Texas.” For so long that I couldn’t find a job, then He gives me a job, then nine months later, I leave to go to Dallas. I wasn’t really sure if I was going to be able to buy a house when I get there.

Prayer, Trust and Thankfulness.  The move wasn’t easy. My mom came to visit and during that time, she didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet. There were two things that she said before she came to visit. She said that if she was able to receive the Holy Spirit and if I was able to buy a house, then she would consider moving.

Thank God, she came to visit and we prayed together every night, and she received the Holy Spirit! Then of course, she thought that I would never be qualified to buy a new house because I was a student and had just gotten a new job. Imagine the surprise when I was qualified to buy a house. I moved in September and I closed in October. God always takes cares of everything. During this time, the verse that I thought about the most was Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Spiritual Ecosysem.  I went because I believed that God wanted me to move. And thank God that we were able to buy a new house, and that my whole family from Boston was able to come and live with me, and we were able to start a new life.  My whole family was always focused on God.  Even my stepdad also got baptized!

Recognizing What’s Important in Life.  This brings me to where I am now in my faith. Thank God that it wasn’t hard for me to get a new job. And now if you heard from my aunt and uncle, they’re planning to open up a coffee shop. Although I have a great job building runways at the airport, most likely, I will quit my job and support them full-time. So, five years of college to be a barista.  But it’s the quality of life that is more important.  So just like everything in my life, worshipping God and making decisions can be very simple. Sometimes, I have made it more difficult for myself by thinking too much. But if I just do what God moves me to do and make the decision to do it, then it’s very simple.

Our journey of faith has to do with what kind of outlook you and I have. It doesn’t mean that we have no worries and it doesn’t mean that we don’t go through trials and tribulations. We have all of these. And every one of us also have all of these, to come along with our faiths. But as long as you and I focus on our Lord Jesus Christ, everything in this world will become very dim. Then when it becomes very dim, then we realize, “That is not the most important thing in our lives.”

So I just hope and pray that I continue to remember these things even when I grow older, to always live my life and trust in what I cannot see rather than in my own knowledge and in my own experiences. I know that no matter how much I know, I will never know more than God.

Join us to focus on God who will surely help us see what’s most important in our life.  Makes choices and decision making so much clearer and better. Our church location is as follows:

4N550 Church Road
Bensenville, IL 60106
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