Lessons Beyond the Degree

College has been a journey of ups and downs that the Lord used to reveal truth to me in a series of hard lessons.  Beginning my college career, my identity was placed in my sport. My worth was determined by my performance. On a prayer walk my sophomore year I felt the Lord say: “If you have soccer but don’t have me, then you don’t have anything. But if you have me and nothing else, you have everything”. It was in that moment I decided to transfer schools and seek a community that was rooted in Christ.  Transferring during my sophomore year, adapting, and transitioning through the pandemic and then moving across the country to a new school kept me in a constant state of adjustment and pulled me out of my comfort zone. As I approach the end, here are some things I've learned. 

Boldness is Beautiful.

"Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:16 

Being tempted by comparison, performance, and perfectionism, I would look to social media, accolades, and my peers as the standard of how I should perform, appear, and speak. It wasn't until I put my pride aside and approached God's throne, to find the ultimate meaning to life, that I truly became confident. Receiving God's undeserved grace and mercy through Jesus Christ, despite anything I could do here on earth, has relinquished a sense of freedom within that is truly beautiful. 

Tears are Tender.

"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." - Psalms 56:8

For the longest time I lived with a façade of perfection, a hunger to control the world around me. I would mask my weaknesses through doing more. This left me completely numb to all forms of emotion and spiritually cold. As I looked to the cross in my spiritual drought, I realized that Jesus wasn't joking when he said, "My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Being desperate for Jesus is empowering, and crying the tears of a tender heart is something to be celebrated. 

Loneliness can be righteous.

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:20

"The heart also voices a kind of loneliness that can never be filled, answered, or quieted as long as we live. This loneliness awakens us to our emotional and spiritual longing for God." (Chip Dodd, Voice of the Heart). I've spent much of my young adulthood feeling incomplete and often alone. The more I seek Jesus, the more I feel like a foreigner to this world. Eternity with the Lord is written on our hearts, it is righteous to long to be with Jesus so intensely. 

Walking convicted is straight and narrow, be prepared to be misunderstood.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7: 13-14 

Conviction is a gift from the Holy Spirit to keep us safe and in step with the will of God, it truly is wonderful. John 1:10-11 states, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and his own did not receive Him." The world we live in will always have individuals who do not choose to follow Jesus, that is when we must be prepared to be misunderstood. It's the same internal longing to be with Jesus, that keeps my steps one in front of the other, straight & narrow. 

Lastly - love as hard as you possibly can, it's worth it!

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:13 

"But what if I get hurt?", is the famous question posed to hinder us from loving people fully. We will absolutely get hurt, and it's so worth it. Jesus didn't love us half-heartedly. It hurt him to be beaten, mocked, scorned, rejected, to suffer and die a sinner's death. He did it out of love for us, to be brought into communion with Him for all of eternity, there is no greater love than this. I believe we have an amazing opportunity to pour out all we must give, and trust that the Lord will fill us, uphold us, and strengthen us again when we too, are rejected. 

College has been a forest. I have been constantly uprooted, planted, covered up by soil, watered, bloomed, and uprooted again. Different trees have been planted with every season of life. I've experienced the lowest of lows— depression, anxiety, sin, brokenness, cynicism, perfectionism, and isolation. But I have also experienced the highest of highs— relationship, love, joy, sunshine, smiles, hugs, and community. This I know, Jesus has already won the victory of the lowest of lows, and even in circumstantial valleys, can we experience the highest of highs through the Holy Spirit poured out onto us. Just look to the cross, and you'll find the fullness of life.

Shelby Craft

I am a 21-year-old student-athlete, about to graduate with a degree in exercise science. I transferred from Pennsylvania State University in January 2021, and now attend Lipscomb University in Nashville Tennessee. I’m a current senior mid-fielder on the Women’s soccer team and intend on taking my 5th year of eligibility to pursue a master’s in business. I have the utmost gratitude for the experiences God has placed before me, and realize that nothing could be done without his grace.