still.

hi friends.

it has been quite a while since my last blog post, but i wanted to give myself some time to acclimate back into college life before i shared where i am at. 

which brings me toooooo. . .

dang life is good.

college: year two started off quite interesting but is currently so so good and God is proving His might and grace in such big ways.

seriously.

how do i even start to tell you all how much He has done in my life over the past 6 weeks?

holy moly me oh my.

i have been wrecked and stretched and thrown around and He is piecing me back together bit by bit.

i went through a patch of time where i was so caught up in myself. praise Him, i am finally out of that place.

i finally reached the end of me.

that is a much better place to be than where i was. 
being caught up in myself was too exhausting.

(special shoutout to all of you who put up with me while i was less than pleasant. you're the real MVP)

don't get me wrong, i still have much more to learn and much further to grow, but i am at the start of a path that is leading in the right direction.

about the second week of school i became overwhelmed. i had been so caught up in the hustle and bustle, extreme excitement, and intense chaos of living around people 24/7 that i forgot what stillness was like.

i forgot what it meant to be still in the presence of the Lord.

so i decided to remember.

i was still.

i took myself, my bible, my journal, and a card.

i sat and i read and i wrote to Him and i wrote to my best friend.

and it was perfect.

that's one major thing i have learned in college.

you have to have those moments of shutting your mouth, removing yourself from other people, and being still.

for those of you who know me, you know how extremely difficult it is for me to be still.
like seriously.
it's the struggle.

but it's important.

for those of you in college right now, listen up.

be still.
take time for yourself.
take time for you and God.
take time to sit in silence.
take time to write out your thoughts.
take time to stop, collaborate, and listen...to yourself.
and to Him.

please do that.
for your sake.
and those around you.

it's important.

now.

sometimes this is hard.

sometimes we can't just sit.

so.

take drives.

drives are good things.

but be safe.

because safety is also good.

but drives can be extremely helpful in the process of being quiet.

plus, you can be "still" without being "still"

ya know?

those moments of quiet, resting in the stillness, is when you can see where you truly are.

you can see the most messed up parts of your heart.
you can see where you are at in your struggles.
you can see what's weighing on you.

so often we let the chaos of life take us in and overwhelm all other things.

we use it as a blanket to cover how we truly feel.

we allow it to be our excuse for the things that we do.

we must stop that.

i am as guilty as the next person.

i surround myself with chaos just to keep from having to actually take a look at where i really am.

but i am finished with that.

so don't be like that.

we can do this.

i believe in us.