Looking Back....

Well, it's official! I'm a JUNIOR! So as I'm half way through my degree, I started thinking over this journey.
I remember graduating from High School and telling everybody that I was NOT going to college. I had just freed myself from school, there was no way I was going back! Two years later I shocked my family and friends with the news that I was going to get my Bachelor's Degree. I don't think anybody really took me seriously, but a few days later I applied to College Plus, and decided somewhat shortly thereafter to go after my Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies. And I've been running hard ever since.
So here I am looking back at the fingerprints of God.....
Some of the first ones that I noticed were in the area of finances. I remember thinking, "Yeah... that's great, I save all this money ~ but if you don't have money it really doesn't matter how much you are saving!" But God has provided above my needs. There has always been enough. Sometimes I've wondered where the money would come from, but it has always been there when I've needed it. He has given me little enough that I would trust Him, and yet as my Abba Father He has provided enough to satisfy.
Another area was what He's done in my heart. As some of you know, I did a lot of floundering in my late teen years. I went through a lot of tough times, and most of the time lost hope. For me, College was a new and different journey away from that. It has been a journey of finding strength and joy and hope. The last 9 months have not been easy by any stretch of terms. As I've been stretched by a rigorous study schedule, I've also lost three of my grandparents and gone through some very difficult family situations as a result of their care. I've found out what it's like to be stretched beyond what you thought you can handle, and then some more. I've learned what it's like to sacrifice sleep in order to make ends meet. I've often had to burn the candle at all three ends. But you know what... there are lessons about God that I would have never learned had I not chosen to take this journey. I can't even begin to tell of all the different facets of God's nature, His love, and my relationship with Him that have been exposed, learned, and amplified by the strains of my college experience.
And then... the icing on the cake is those cool little college credits.
So tonight we are celebrating with ice cream and other fun stuff, but I'm celebrating much more than the accomplishment. I'm celebrating who it has made me, and what it is going to make me. That's the most beautiful part.