I remember the day I moved to Asbury.
The entire drive across the Bluegrass Parkway; fields of overlapping green and the summer sun beaming, I experienced too many emotions to fully comprehend. My leg bounced, my hands twisted in my lap. Yet, at the same time, I could not stop smiling because even though I didn’t know my major or my roommate, I knew God led me here.
Maybe you had a similar experience. Maybe you’re the child of an alumni and bleed Asbury purple. You knew the inner workings of campus before even stepping foot on the semi-circle. This place was chosen for you. Or perhaps you chose Asbury, whether for the community or for your major. You are ready to follow the passion and the calling you’ve had since you were three. Some of you might just like the physical style of Wilmore, being secluded yet connected to Nicholasville and Lexington. A special hideaway. A place to escape home and discover life for yourself.
No matter how you got here, what matters is that you are here. And like the rest of us, you have a story. It could resemble a perfect, organized notebook, color coded and filled with sticky notes aligning what you want to do, who you want to meet, and where you want to go. But more often than not, your story looks like a worn leather journal. Some pages are ripped and stained from tears, broken friendships, coffee and fast food runs. Scribbles fill the margins, words bleed together.
But did you realize that your story isn’t even half over yet? You still have hundreds of white blank pages. A new chapter started when you got to campus whether you were aware of it or not, and while Asbury is not your entire story, it is at least a part. So my question for you is this: How do you want to fill those pages?
I don’t ask this to scare you, because I know you’re probably still scared. The first two weeks flew by and there’s this tension in the air. You haven’t had real classes since your junior year of high school. Now you have four exams coming up, three papers and 15 homework assignments in a new environment, new rules and new expectations in the middle of a pandemic you thought would only last two weeks. Then there are the clubs you want to join, sports teams and games that snatch your afternoons. There are on-campus jobs that you need so you can actually go off-campus and hang out with your roommate, TAG friends and classmates.You are allowed to feel a little stressed and overwhelmed.
But you don’t have to go through it alone. You aren’t going through this alone.
“You have to say that,” you might tell me. “You’re an RA.”
And you’re right. I am an RA, one who lives in a hall with 14 freshmen women. Every fear and anxiety listed above are things my girls admitted to struggling with since being here, and with a lot more issues I didn’t even name. But I wouldn’t tell you or them this unless I meant it. You aren’t going through this alone.
And of course, I encourage you to go out, to get involved and to meet people. Your story intertwines with everyone you meet, whether it is a brief interaction or a roommate you stick with for four years and beyond. Yet you need to understand the importance of boundaries, too, and your own limits.
You are physically incapable of being everywhere and being available to everyone at all hours of the day. If you try to be, you will burnout and, unfortunately, then you will not be able to help or be there for anyone. You need to rest. Physically, yes, but also mentally, emotionally, and most importantly, you need to rest spiritually. It is impossible to pour into others when you have not filled yourself up. You cannot lead other people where you’ve never been.
I encourage you to turn to someone who knows you and who can handle everything you have: your stress, your fear, your anger, your joy, your happiness, your past, your future. Whatever you have, God can handle it. He wants to take that weight off your shoulders. He is here, wherever you are, and loves you too much to allow you to stay there. You aren’t going through this alone.
Surrender your story to God. He is the author of creation and the creator of you, therefore His storyline and what He has planned for you is better than anything you can imagine yourself. Stay focused on Him. Before you know it, you’ll realize He brought people alongside you. Friends who care about you and want to be involved in your wellbeing.
Your time at Asbury can be a quick few sentences: You came, met a few friends, graduated and then moved on. Or it can be the chapter in which your journey really starts. It can be the time where you let God in and allow Him to transform the rest of your life– completing the story He had designed for you all along.
