Alumna (Graduated Student)

Four months and a day ago, I graduated college.

The lingering global pandemic did put a damper on traditional festivities, but the school managed to hold an in-person event. The president of the school called an assortment of student groups to stand: veterans, first-generation students, honors students, and more. He then called everyone about to receive a degree to stand, said a few words, then left the stage. A slideshow of submitted photos and computer-read names proceeded. I sat with my family and waited through hundreds of them, some familiar, some I'd never seen before, counting Jones' and Smiths' until my smiling photo and mildly witty bio flashed across the jumbotron for a few moments. 

A little less than two months later, in early July, I enrolled into graduate school at the same university. 

Those classes start up in just two short weeks from this upcoming Monday, yet the reality that my undergraduate experience is over hasn't fully settled in yet. 

In part this is due to COVID-19 upending regular campus life and sending my peers and me back home in the middle of a semester, then rearranging course formats for the remainder of my time at Georgia State. 

But I also wonder if the surreal nature of this transition to a new season of life is simply because uncertainty and I have never gotten along well. I'm a bit of a planner, and I just like to know things. When things are uncertain, I tend to get uneasy. So this summer has been a bit of a trial, as my finances and family living situations have been a bit up in the air, job hunting has been hit-or-miss with a lot of misses, and I admit I've slipped back into inconsistency with a few habits that I'd planned on sticking with several months back (daily bible reading, exercise, etc). Yet through all my slip-ups, anxieties, and doubts since graduation, one thing has never ever changed. 

And that is the constancy of the God I serve. 

He who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) is the one who pulled me out of five years of intense driving anxiety and gave me the strength and focus to finally pass my very first road test. The provider of every need blessed me with scholarships and stipends to finish that undergraduate degree debt-free, and is making a way to do a similar work with the rest of my education. He who called me to missions with Wycliffe Ministries before I ever memorized a letter of scripture is directing my path to missions day-by-day. 

Dearest reader, if you feel overwhelmed by life right now as I have often been lately, I encourage you to take a deep breath, a mental step back, and a spiritual seat at the table. The Bread of Life is still right there, fresh as ever, ready for you to dig in and nourish your weary soul. 

Personally, I'm gonna feast on the Book of Jeremiah today.