Getting a Mentor

I know that this is not something that college students struggle with, but having a mentor will help you with the struggles that I have been talking about this semester. I have gone through many of these struggles and continue to go through these. The advice that I have given you is from my friends and from personal experience. With a mentor, they have dealt with these things and have gotten through them. Having a mentor will help you get through the tough things in life that you may not be able to tell your friends or family. Having an older person in your life to support you in your relationship with God while in college is so important. They can keep you accountable in the toughest situations, they will always be there for you and they are like your mother or father away from home.

You can find mentors anywhere but the best place to find one is with your church home or in an organization that you are in. I am currently in YoungLife and we have adult leaders who are there for us when we need them. They do not judge us or look down on us for things that we have done. They too have gone through the things that most of us have gone through. We look up to them and respect them. They walk through life with you and help you grow in your relationship with God.

Here are some things that your mentor should possess,
1. should respect you and you should respect them
2. strong in their faith with God
3. not judgemental
4. trust them with anything
5. knowledgeable with the word

Waiting for God

This is something that I do not struggle with but some of my friends struggle with this. The problem that they struggle with is knowing that God has a plan for them so they just wait and do nothing. It's true that God does have a plan for you and your life is in God's hands, but He gave us free will to decide what we want to do. We have to help Him out some.

For example, you can't not study and rely on God to help you get an A, you have to pull your weight and study for that test. Now don't get me wrong, God is powerful and almighty and He can make miracles happen but He does not call us to be lazy and wait for Him. We have to be proactive in our life and in our relationship with God. If we are lazy in one part of our life, we will probably get lazy in our relationship with God.

This is a short blog but the main point is to not be lazy and wait for God to make things happen in your life. You have to do your part and God will take care of the rest.

Desiring a Relationship for Marriage

This blog is mainly for girls feeling the pressure to have a relationship heading for marriage.

It seems like in college that every girl is engaged or seriously dating someone that they will eventually marry. College is like a breading ground for marriage. With all the engagements and soon to be engagements, it is hard to not feel the pressure to be in a serious relationship. Its ok to want a relationship with someone one but when it consumes your life is when it becomes a problem.

I am in the same boat as the majority of students, I am not in a serious relationship but I have a lot of friends who are in a serious relationship or are engaged. When I hear or see how happy they are with each other, it is hard to not get wrapped up in wanting that same thing. God designed us to have relationships with the opposite sex. I get through each day knowing that God has a perfect man for me and that when the right time comes, this man will enter into my life and I will feel the same happiness that a lot of my friends are feeling. Another way that distracts me is being involved in school and organizations.

If you are having trouble not being consumed by the pressure to get engaged in college, I would spend some serious time with God. Knowing that God has your life in His hands is very comforting and stress-relieving. Its not healthy to consume your life with the ideas of having or wanting a serious relationship. So trust in God and be patient, your prince will come.

Honoring God with Thinking About Future Jobs

You've heard me talk about the stress of figuring out what you want to do in life and what you feel like God has planned for your future. Most Christians who go to college, feel like they are supposed to get a job that is related to religion, whether it is being a YoungLife leader, a pastor/preacher, or some other leadership role in the church. God did not design for all of us to be involved in a church related job. His main goal for us is that we show His glory and love to all through the way we live our lives. Don't think that because you won't have a job in the ministry, that you are in someway disobeying God.

I am wanting to be a dentist and the last time I checked, that doesn't have anything to do with the church. What I want to do is when I become an established dentist, I would like to go on mission trips with Doctors Without Borders, or with something called the Mercy Ship. Through these actions, I will glorify God and show His love to others.

If your future job doesn't deal with the church directly, there are other ways to spread His love, you could go on mission trips or get involved with your church home. Your workplace is another opportunity to share your faith with your patients. I guess what I am trying to tell you is that you do not have to have a job in a leadership position in church to be effective at sharing God's love and glory to others. God has a plan for you, so trust in Him and you will glorify Him in your future job.

Keeping God at the Center of Your Relationship With the Opposite Sex

I know you have probably heard this before but dating in college is very different than dating in high school. In high school most of us had curfews and rules in our house regarding the opposite sex. When you come to college, you don't have all the rules or supervision, there are many opportunities to fall off track and have sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend or someone you may have just met.

It is easy to get caught up in your relationship and forget about all the other important things in your life, mainly God and your relationship with Him.

When you do meet someone and decide to date or have a relationship, one of the most important things that I have learned is that if Christ isn't at the center of your relationship, the relationship is doomed to have problems and most likely end. Having God at the center of your relationship means that you rely on Him for your happiness not the opposite sex and you put God before the other person. With both of you having strong relationships with God and continuing to strengthen that relationship with Him and with each other, your relationship should not have many problems. You are going to have some disagreements but in the long run, you will understand each other better and your relationship will be glorifying God through it all.

Serving

At Texas A&M, there are many on-campus organizations to get involved in to serve in the community or to serve out of state or out of country. There are also a lot of off-campus organizations that serve the same purpose. I understand that it can get overwhelming when you have all the choices but do not know what direction to go in. First thing I would tell you is that you need to pray about it. This may seem like the "Christian"-thing to do, but really it helps.

When I heard about all these organizations, I was truly overwhelmed and did not know which to join and get involved in. I prayed about it and chose to do YoungLife. I felt led to keep going on that track. I did YoungLife in high school and was a WyldLife leader my senior year of high school. There were other organizations that were specifically catered to going on mission trips to Mexico and other countries in the world. Going on Mission Trips is what I did in high school, but when I got to college, I didn't feel led to do it anymore. There was also a Freshman leadership organization that I thought I felt led to do, but God had other plans for me and I see now that I would not have been able to do the organization, younglife and school.

I guess what I am trying to tell you is that you should not get overwhelmed by all the opportunities to serve, take it as a blessing. Pray about what organization you should join and in which way you should serve. What you think God is leading you to do may not be what He really wants you to do, but in the end, trust that He knows what He is doing and that He has a plan for you and it will all work out.

Here are some websites for mission trips:
http://www.adventures.org/
http://www.globalfrontiermissions.com/shorttermtrips/studentmissions.html
http://www.missionfinder.org/medstudents.htm
~this last one is for pre-med or medical students who are wanting to go on trips themselves when they are older.

The Future

It is thought that when you come to college, you are supposed to have a major picked and know what you want to do with your life when you graduate from college. This is not true, I have many friends who came to college as general studies students.

I came to college as a biology major wanting to go to dental school to become a dentist. I still want to do those things, but as the date to take my entrance exam to dental school, thoughts race through my head. If I do not get into dental school, I do not know what I am going to do, I have wanted to be a dentist since the 7th grade. I can not picture doing anything else than dentistry. Obviously, I am stressing about my future. One of my friends is helping me realize that my future is not in my hands, it is in God's hands and He has a plan for my life. I know deep down that it will all work out, but its the not knowing that is stressing me out.

I know many of you are in the same boat as me and the only adavice I can give you is what my friend has shared with me. Do not stress about grades, classes, and your future, God is all powerful and He has is under control. He knows what you will be doing five years from now. If you believe and pray about it, He will reveal His plan for you. Just take it one day at a time and know that something greater than us is in power over our lives.

Here are some links to verses talking about your future: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=29&verse=10&end_verse=12&version=31&context=context

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=22&chapter=8&verse=6&end_verse=8&version=31&context=context