I’m baaaaaaack. 🙂 I never really blog over the summers, in case you didn’t realize. I just don’t do much worth blogging about really. Summer consists of: Sleeping (lots of it), snuggling with the pups, cooking/baking, more sleep, walks to the lake, reading, playing online… yeah. And with the crazy life/year ahead of me, there will be plenty to write about. (if I ever have the time to actually sit and do this again!)

It’s the craziest thing thinking that junior year starts tomorrow. Oh my stars. Junior year. I am halfway done with college, y’all. This is slightly scary.

I moved in a week early for my campus ministry intern retreat/training, so I had time to get unpacked and organized (haha like that happened!) before school actually started. It was nice (albeit a bit odd) having campus be so empty (minus the freshmen and RAs), but I was quite excited for the campus to fill up with friendly, familiar faces over the past couple days. It feels much more like home with everyone here!

As I said above, I have a pretty busy plate this year, even moreso than usual. 18 hours (but ALL major classes so yay for small victories!), my internship with Campus Ministry (which I am sooo excited about!), service coordinator for my service club… yeah, I’m already exhausted. And it hasn’t even started yet! But I’m excited for what the year has to come.

I’m excited to be back in my home away from home, and get to know the girls, both freshmen and upperclassmen alike.  I see many a bananagrams night in my future!

I can’t wait to journey through life with my fellow Campus Ministry interns, whom after a week of training already feel like life long friends.

I’m crazily blessed to be an officer in PKS, a group of girls that captured my heart my freshmen year. I can’t wait to see where their servant hearts lead us this year.

Overall, I’m happy to be back in the place I love the most, with the people I love the most, and most importantly, a place the spirit of God evidently dwells in the hearts of the people and the halls in the dorms and classrooms.

I’m ready for what God’s going to show me, what He is going to be doing in my life. I’m learning to be willing for him to love me and trust him with all the life struggles I’ve been dealing with.

There’s been one thing my heart’s been on lately: grace.

I don’t always fully understand grace. I know it’s something I don’t deserve, yet like most things, it’s something God gives me because He loves me so much He wants me to have it.

He wants me to say to myself, “You are OK. Just breathe.” That is what grace is like to me. It’s a deep sigh of relief, a laugh on a bad day, an unexpected hug- it’s just a moment in time that God says, “I’ve got you in my arms.”

I love Anne Lamott’s thoughts on grace:

I don’t fully understand the mystery of grace-only that it meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us where it found us.

Grace is a big mystery to me, too. And it scoops me up right where I am, and carries me to God, where I need to be. It’s a lifesaver, that when I’m drowning (which I have been the past few days-another post for later), it comes to my rescue and brings me safely back into my Savior’s arms. I like that visual, of grace being my safety net, my sigh of relief, my happy moment on a cloudy day.

I also love that grace is constantly changing me. Because of the grace I am given on a daily basis, it shapes who I am- and who God is making me into.

It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures,1 Corinthians 15:10:

But God’s grace has made me what I am, and His grace to me was not wasted. 

There’s been a picture that’s been circulating both Pinterest and tumblr (if it’s popping up on both of those things, it must be awesome):

“I will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection”