Where I Stand

It’s taken me three years to finally get it right. I stepped foot onto the Forty Acres three years ago with the ambitious idea that I would change the world. I had a blue print for my college life that would lead me to reaching my career goals. I knew what I wanted and I was determined to get it.

Does anything seem wrong with this picture? No. Many freshly arrived first years have this same idea. Entering my final year of college, I realize that this idea I had was off—way off.

I say this because that blue print for my life that I constructed did not include my God.

I grew up in a Christian home and met with my church every week with my family. I loved going to Sunday school as a child and even taught Sunday school for eight years after that. I had Christian friends and I attended most of the youth group activities my church had. Community service was my hobby and I excelled in school all while holding leadership positions for several organizations at my high school. I was an obedient daughter and was a great role model for my younger sisters. You could say my “Christian resume” was on point!

My freshman year I joined Christian Students on Campus at UT. I still loved God and it was important to me to meet with other Christians. I was in other student organizations and I treated this just the same as the others. I went to meetings and Bible studies and truly touched Christ with this group. I started to divide my friends into two groups: my Christian friends and my other friends. I also started to divide my life in two as well: my Christian life and my other life. I spent my first three years of college living these two lives and spending my time with two groups of friends. I did whatever I wanted and often times, I did not consider what God wanted for me. I was self-absorbed with my career goals and my desire to be the social person that I am.

By my sophomore year, God was at the very end of my list. I had made a lot of new friends and kept myself busy with other things. That year went by and it wasn’t until the summer before my junior year when I realized how far away from God I was. I was lost and I went through something that caused me to turn back to God. I was desperate and it was in that moment that I realized that my life was not for myself but for Christ!

I struggled my junior year because I had occupied myself so much that I was stuck in such a busy schedule. I could not attend any CSOC meetings or Bible studies and I was desperate for the Word so I started reading the Bible with a friend. It was this Bible reading and my desperate prayers to the Lord that kept me going that year.

For my senior year, I made the decision to move into a condo with other believers that I knew would actively pursue God. I consecrated my senior year to God because I wanted Him to be the focus of my life—not the building up of my career or anything else. It has been a sweet experience to finally be able to break the boundary of my Christian life and my “other” life as well as the boundary of my Christian friends and my “other” friends. My Christian life is now my life and my Christian friends are now my friends. I believe God puts us through certain situations for us to turn back to Him. So here I am! I am having my best year of college enjoying God and spending my time with other believers.

By: J. Zambrano