I have never been one for patience. Whether in good situations or bad, I always want to GET. STUFF. DONE. Any one who knows me well knows this to be true. It can be my greatest strength but usually it’s my greatest weakness. I have seen this through my entire life and even in this very week.
I have been planning to get an apartment off campus for the last two years of college since I started college almost, well, two years ago. So, since my second year is coming to a close, it is time to start getting ready to move. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find people to live with but as soon as I returned from Christmas break some of my friends told me they needed another roommate for an off-campus apartment. Everything seemed to fall into place and I was overjoyed with the ease of the process. I totally banked on moving off campus and focused all my energy on that idea.
Then there was a problem. My school requires students to be 21 years old to move out of campus housing. However, you can appeal and request to move off-campus after two years. I had heard this was simply a formality and that, because of my grades and age, I would be fine. One day, after filing the appeal, I decided to pop in and check with the Housing Staff to see what they thought my chances were, just in case. The lady, who was super nice, told me that I had been denied. Nervous that my only option had fallen through, I pled my case again and she told me she would see what she could do. Three days later, on Monday of this week, I got an email that said I had still been denied.
So there I was with no roommate and no plans. Most people I know would spend a few days thinking over what to do next, calling parents, seeing what options were available and then taking the next step from there. But not me. I will say that before I did what I did next, I did stop and pray. I told God that I was putting my housing situation in his hands and asked him to make the best option work. Then I immediately took my housing situation into my own hands and went to work without a second thought. Within minutes I was evaluating financial options, texting everyone I knew about roommate options for a semester, and within the day I had two housing options, a potential roommate, and a paid deposit to hold my place on campus. Seems sufficient, right?
Except on Thursday I got another email. This email said that I had been reevaluated and I was approved to move off-campus, no problem. Which is fantastic news! Except that I had told the girls I couldn’t live with them. And I told another girl I would live with her. And I paid a deposit on housing. All because I was too impatient to let everything sit and be content in the chaos that is finding a place to live.
See, I don’t do well without the comfort of a plan. Even after getting the joyful news that I could have my dream living situation, I still had to go back and deal with the things I set in place within the last week. I had to make sure the girls were still living off campus (they were). I had to tell the girl I was going to live with for a semester that I wasn’t going to live with her. I had to make sure the deposit I paid for housing was refundable (thankfully it is!). Luckily, I hadn’t done too much damage. But all of that could have been much easier if I had been okay letting myself be without a plan for a day and letting God work.
Contentment is something I try and fail at many times a day. It’s so easy to be content when my plans fall into place but when I am in the midst of chaos contentment becomes the furthest thing from my mind. Contentment was something I even struggled with in my acceptance of Christ.
When I was five, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I did it twice, actually, because I was an impatient, discontent mess – even at five. You see, I decided I wanted to accept Jesus. I knew I needed him to be a good person and get into heaven (because at five, that’s what it was all about for me). My parents were excited about this realization and told me that I could go to a class at church for children who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts. In retrospect, this was an awesome thing that my parents did because they allowed me to make the choice to educate myself about what I was committing to before I did it. However, at five, I just wanted Jesus right then and there. I didn’t want to wait and learn about why – I just wanted to do it! So, that night in my room, I secretly prayed that Jesus would come into my heart. That way, I got Jesus when I wanted him but my parents still thought they got it their way. Later, after I took the class, my daddy took me into our living room and we kneeled at the foot of the couch together and prayed that Jesus would be in my heart forever.
I believe that God has a sense of humor and I think he probably laughed at my secret prayer that night. And even though I don’t believe he turned me down, I think that my prayer a week later – the one made in humility instead of defiance, impatience, and ignorance – was much more appreciated. I regard the prayer made with my father as the true moment of my Christianity because I know that is when I began to fully understand who God really is.
Through my recent struggles with housing and even before, contentment has been heavy on my mind. I think contentment is hard at any stage of life but I do think college is a big time for contentment to be questioned quite a lot. As we transition from the comfort of childhood to the unknowns of adulthood, we struggle to find contentment in the day-to-day.
Recently, I was going through the book of Philippians and I came across a verse about contentment that I LOVE.
" . . .For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content."
Philippians 4:11
This verse is such a great reminder for when I get stuck in those chaotic, sticky situations. No matter what I should be content. The verses that follow make it even better:
". . . For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:11-13
I can be content because God has my back! I love how Paul says that Christ is the secret to contentment whether you are in the calm or in the storm. We take the last part of this verse and let it stand alone so often. While it does great by itself, I think it is so encouraging to look at these verses all together. Not only does Christ give us strength to face whatever we are going through but within that strength we can learn to be content exactly where we are.
So as I go into the final weeks of this semester, I am going to work my hardest on contentment. While I am apartment hunting, job-hunting, and in the midst of finals – I want to be joyful in exactly the place that I am. I will try to truly place my plans in God’s hands and remember that I can be content through him who strengthens me.
I have been planning to get an apartment off campus for the last two years of college since I started college almost, well, two years ago. So, since my second year is coming to a close, it is time to start getting ready to move. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find people to live with but as soon as I returned from Christmas break some of my friends told me they needed another roommate for an off-campus apartment. Everything seemed to fall into place and I was overjoyed with the ease of the process. I totally banked on moving off campus and focused all my energy on that idea.
Then there was a problem. My school requires students to be 21 years old to move out of campus housing. However, you can appeal and request to move off-campus after two years. I had heard this was simply a formality and that, because of my grades and age, I would be fine. One day, after filing the appeal, I decided to pop in and check with the Housing Staff to see what they thought my chances were, just in case. The lady, who was super nice, told me that I had been denied. Nervous that my only option had fallen through, I pled my case again and she told me she would see what she could do. Three days later, on Monday of this week, I got an email that said I had still been denied.
So there I was with no roommate and no plans. Most people I know would spend a few days thinking over what to do next, calling parents, seeing what options were available and then taking the next step from there. But not me. I will say that before I did what I did next, I did stop and pray. I told God that I was putting my housing situation in his hands and asked him to make the best option work. Then I immediately took my housing situation into my own hands and went to work without a second thought. Within minutes I was evaluating financial options, texting everyone I knew about roommate options for a semester, and within the day I had two housing options, a potential roommate, and a paid deposit to hold my place on campus. Seems sufficient, right?
Except on Thursday I got another email. This email said that I had been reevaluated and I was approved to move off-campus, no problem. Which is fantastic news! Except that I had told the girls I couldn’t live with them. And I told another girl I would live with her. And I paid a deposit on housing. All because I was too impatient to let everything sit and be content in the chaos that is finding a place to live.
See, I don’t do well without the comfort of a plan. Even after getting the joyful news that I could have my dream living situation, I still had to go back and deal with the things I set in place within the last week. I had to make sure the girls were still living off campus (they were). I had to tell the girl I was going to live with for a semester that I wasn’t going to live with her. I had to make sure the deposit I paid for housing was refundable (thankfully it is!). Luckily, I hadn’t done too much damage. But all of that could have been much easier if I had been okay letting myself be without a plan for a day and letting God work.
Contentment is something I try and fail at many times a day. It’s so easy to be content when my plans fall into place but when I am in the midst of chaos contentment becomes the furthest thing from my mind. Contentment was something I even struggled with in my acceptance of Christ.
When I was five, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I did it twice, actually, because I was an impatient, discontent mess – even at five. You see, I decided I wanted to accept Jesus. I knew I needed him to be a good person and get into heaven (because at five, that’s what it was all about for me). My parents were excited about this realization and told me that I could go to a class at church for children who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts. In retrospect, this was an awesome thing that my parents did because they allowed me to make the choice to educate myself about what I was committing to before I did it. However, at five, I just wanted Jesus right then and there. I didn’t want to wait and learn about why – I just wanted to do it! So, that night in my room, I secretly prayed that Jesus would come into my heart. That way, I got Jesus when I wanted him but my parents still thought they got it their way. Later, after I took the class, my daddy took me into our living room and we kneeled at the foot of the couch together and prayed that Jesus would be in my heart forever.
I believe that God has a sense of humor and I think he probably laughed at my secret prayer that night. And even though I don’t believe he turned me down, I think that my prayer a week later – the one made in humility instead of defiance, impatience, and ignorance – was much more appreciated. I regard the prayer made with my father as the true moment of my Christianity because I know that is when I began to fully understand who God really is.
Through my recent struggles with housing and even before, contentment has been heavy on my mind. I think contentment is hard at any stage of life but I do think college is a big time for contentment to be questioned quite a lot. As we transition from the comfort of childhood to the unknowns of adulthood, we struggle to find contentment in the day-to-day.
Recently, I was going through the book of Philippians and I came across a verse about contentment that I LOVE.
" . . .For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content."
Philippians 4:11
This verse is such a great reminder for when I get stuck in those chaotic, sticky situations. No matter what I should be content. The verses that follow make it even better:
". . . For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:11-13
I can be content because God has my back! I love how Paul says that Christ is the secret to contentment whether you are in the calm or in the storm. We take the last part of this verse and let it stand alone so often. While it does great by itself, I think it is so encouraging to look at these verses all together. Not only does Christ give us strength to face whatever we are going through but within that strength we can learn to be content exactly where we are.
So as I go into the final weeks of this semester, I am going to work my hardest on contentment. While I am apartment hunting, job-hunting, and in the midst of finals – I want to be joyful in exactly the place that I am. I will try to truly place my plans in God’s hands and remember that I can be content through him who strengthens me.