Leaps of Faith

Four years ago I was just a little freshman who didn't really have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. When I think about it, a lot actually happened during my freshman year that would really shape me into who I am today. One of the many things that impacted the path of my high school career was joining the FFA. As a freshman, not many people would've hand picked me to be in the FFA. None of my immediate family farms and I truly didn't know much about farming. However, throughout the past four years I've learned so much. I've not only learned about the pros and cons of GMOs, done an abundant amount of dreaded current events, and visited a dairy farm through my agriculture education classes, but I've also competed in public speaking contests, met countless new people, and have been honored to be elected the president of my chapter through FFA. My freshman year I received the Star Greenhand award at our annual chapter banquet, which is what truly pushed me to

Sometimes I have to take a minute to sit back and actually realize what is going on around me. This weekend was one of those times. Almost a year ago to the day, I visited Indiana Wesleyan University for the first time. From the moment I stepped out of the car, I knew it was my future home. I loved the campus, but only being a junior I didn't take it too seriously. In October, I went on another visit with some other teenagers from my youth group and our youth pastor for another tour. It was becoming more and more real and I was loving the campus more and more, too. However, after that tour reality hit me in the face. My parents sat me down to tell me that community college would probably be a better option and then I could transfer to IWU. I wasn't content with that answer; in fact I was disappointed, bitter, and frustrated. My parents thought it was impossible for me to be able to go to IWU. There we were, just five months later. So much has happened over the past five months.

Jealousy, it's something we all deal with. Whether we are the ones who are jealous of someone else or we are the ones people are jealous of, we've all had our fair share of experiences with jealousy. It's so easy for our eyes to become peeled and for our hearts to become bitter at someone else's new car, promotion at work, needs being met, or just even in the smaller ways that God is providing for them. It's easy to stalk someone's social media and see all of the happy moments in their life: their perfect wedding day, too cute to be real kiddos, adorable animals, custom built new home, and on and on it goes. It seems as if they have the picture perfect life. Although their life seems picture perfect, I promise you it's not. We are all guilty of not only seeking out other's perfect moments, but also posting our own. No one posts a picture of the hard relationship moments, screaming baby, or how many long hours they worked in order to be able to buy that h

Normally when we think about learning from people, it's normally from people who are older than us. Whether it be teachers in school, pastors in church, parents at home, or grandparents in our lives; they can all teach us something. However, recently I've learned quite a bit from someone who is actually younger than me. Although this isn't the first time that this has happened for me, it's someone who I always thought I would teach and challenge, not the other way around. My brother is eight years younger than me. Although we have our moments, we've always gotten along pretty well. Our age difference is one of the main reasons that I believe has to due with why we bond so well. The other day my two best friends that I normally walk with were busy so I asked my brother to go on a walk with me. While expecting to get a no, to my pleasant surprise I actually got a yes. I use an app called Charity Miles to track the distance that I walk and the app has sponsors that wil

Something that has become so hard for people, but Americans especially, is waiting. We are so quick to become impatient. I'm guilty. I don't know about anyone else, but most of my life is spent running from one place to another. I run out of the house in the morning to take my siblings to school, lead some club meeting at the school, hurry through the McDonald's drive thru to get coffee so I can get to the church on time. I've only been up for two hours and I've normally already become impatient. Sometimes it's because I think someone is taking too long to get the point across; while other times I've been sitting in the McDonald's drive thru for fifteen minutes wondering why everyone had to come at the same time as me or why it is taking them so long when all I ordered was an iced coffee. I'm constantly catching myself becoming impatient and not wanting to wait for specific things. Although we all become impatient on a daily basis with a variety of s