Hey everyone! I have been planning to start a blog for what seems like forever. Better late than never I guess! I am super excited to share about God’s love and how he is working in my life as a college student. My goal is to share what I’ve learned and what the Bible says about basically any topic that comes up in my week (as I attempt to write weekly with my busy schedule) and just share the love of Jesus with anyone who reads my blog. Also, my mom has a blog and if you haven’t heard of her you should definitely check hers out ( justasmalltowngirlblog.wordpress.com ).
To start out I want to introduce myself and explain the meaning behind my blog name. I just finished my sophomore year at Idaho State University and I am working on my Bachelor’s degree in Health Science, after which I will get my Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy, and if God allows, my doctorate. I live in the campus apartments with my cat and have an amazing community that I am a part of.
I am really excited about my blog name. I got the idea from Hawk Nelson’s song “Diamonds.” God is making diamonds out of all of us. With every trial we endure, every test of our faith, he is making diamonds out of us, “when the pressure is on he’s making diamonds.” Through this blog I will hopefully be able to share how God is refining me into the diamond I am. I am a diamond in progress.
To kick of Diamond in Progress I want to talk about community. I’m not talking about the community of people and neighbors you live in. I’m talking about having a community of fellow believers. Over the last 2 years here at ISU, I have discovered just how important it is to have a group of believers to live life with.
I grew up in a Christian home in an LDS community. Pretty much everyone I knew was LDS and didn’t believe the same thing I did. All of my friends at school were LDS and that made things really hard for me growing up. I struggled through a lot of depression because I felt like I didn’t belong. When I was in 6th grade my family started attending a small non-denominational church that we still attend today. My sense of belonging got a little better, but not by much. There weren’t many kids at that church that were my age. I became fast friends with the pastor’s daughter and we had a small youth group. I had more of a sense of belonging, but still struggled. I spent most of my time away from that small community and soon that community shrunk to almost nothing because most of the people in it were older than me. I felt pretty alone. Then I started college.
I was really scared to start college. I was completely by myself. No friends from high school had followed me to ISU. I was starting completely new and I didn’t know anyone. I ended up meeting a couple of girls that I hung out with my first weekend there. One of them invited me to go to church with her. It was at this church that I first met the beginning of my college family. Two women walked up to us after church and gave us little card advertising an event called Cold Butts and Beer that their campus group was putting on. There was going to be ice blocking and rootbeer on one of the campus fields. They also invited me to their Wednesday night group meeting. I didn’t know it then, but that group, Chi Alpha, was going to change my life and my relationship with God forever.
Over the next two years, my Chi Alpha family fed my love for Jesus and introduced me to God in a new and tangible way. I have had opportunities to grow in God that I’ve never had before and I’ve grown so much because I had people to pour God’s love into me. They have been my support system and I have found life long friends in all of them. Without the love friendship they offered me, I wouldn’t be writing this blog today. I honestly don’t know where I would be.
Having a community is vitally important to your walk with God. It provides you with a family and support system, as well as people to challenge you and help you grow your relationship with God. Not only that, it provides people to hold you accountable. James 5:16 says “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
I could go on and on about community and its importance, but all you have to do is look at the life of Jesus to see it. Jesus chose companions for a reason. He wasn’t alone, and you shouldn’t be either. So find your community. Find a group of believers to challenge you, support you, love you, and encourage you.
Community has shaped me into a diamond in progress.
Diamond in Progress 