My heart dropped as my family walked out the door. They were leaving, and I was staying. How could they leave me? Sure, that was the plan the entire time… I knew this, but still, now it was actually happening! My first couple weeks, I was miserable. I missed my family, and there was just so much to adapt to, so much new stuff to learn. I was homesick. Then I got too busy keeping up with life to pay as much attention to how much I missed my family.
I had so much that I was doing, so much else to pay attention to! I had friends, roommates, so many people that cared, that I cared about, that I began to see that they were “family” too. Gradually, I began to realize that I was happy at the school- it was, indeed, possible to be happy without my family around! Not only that, but I began to realize that I didn’t need my family to be at home. This was something that my classes were really teaching me- the Old Testament is full of accounts of God’s faithfulness, and if He has been SO faithful for so long, why would we even begin to think He wouldn’t continue to be? Anywhere can be home, because home is where HE is, and He is always with us!
Let me just encourage anyone that might be reading this- although it can be SO hard to be away from family, away from home, in a new situation, you will find things and people around you that you can be happy with. Trusting God is a theme that I’ve really been getting- He is faithful, and being in Him is the only way to really be home. Anywhere and anyone else may be great, but ultimately they are not going to make us happy.
As for what really made the difference for me, all I can say is that God was being faithful- the way He ALWAYS is- to bring me to a place where I could and would rely on Him. The classes, my friends, just time and growing up a bit- God can work all things together to bring you where you never thought you’d be.
Our God is an AWESOME God!!!
