A Community of Hope

As I reflect on my time with summer away from Taylor and the friendships I've come to cherish so deeply, I am struck now by how much I longed for these relationships and this type of community when I was not immersed in it. I was blessed with a church family that showered me with love and hot food and intentional care, and I still praise God for these people regularly. He provided me with exactly what I needed to make it through my summer--sustaining me weekly with overflowing joy and love each Sunday at church. However, as the weeks drew to a close and Saturdays dragged on, I felt the emptiness and loneliness of where I was at. My relationships with my roommates never came close to the friendships I've come to know from friends in high school and especially at Taylor. I would crave community with other believers in a way I couldn't express until I returned to it.

As I have been back at school now, I recognize the life-sustaining power of the Holy Spirit that is alive on Taylor's campus. He is vibrantly at work among relationships between students and faculty and the community around us. Having been so distinctly separated from this type of community for a length of time, I feel more in tune with the life that taking place around me. 

I see the Lord through the sisters on my former floor as they selflessly welcome in a host of new students and yet still intentionally pursue relationships with those of us who have left the floor for a variety of reasons.

I see the Lord through my supervisor and the director of the First Year Experience program who desires to help new students make a smooth and healthy transition to Taylor in mind, body, and spirit.

I see the Lord through my fellow cabinet members as they lead the student leaders under their care with diligence and love, seeking to encourage and uplift as well as challenge each one to be the very best leader he or she is capable of being.

I see the Lord through all-campus worship and communion when the student body gathers together and lifts up one voice in praise of our King who reigns on high. The freedom and new life that is experience in corporate worship cannot be explained but must be experienced.

I see the Lord through the sophomore girl who approached me during my quiet time today, prophesied over me, and asked if she could pray over me because she felt the Lord calling her to do so. I am thankful for her heart that is listening and willing to follow the Lord's call.

This community at Taylor is filled with countless examples of the Lord's faithfulness and presence in this place. I believe that there is so much that will take place in the Name of the Lord here this year that will further His kingdom, and I am so privileged to be a part of this community as it occurs. To live like this requires work on all of our parts, and I am thankful that as I choose to work, so do so many others. The Body of Christ grows and operates as we all do our part, and I eagerly anticipate discovering what role the Lord will have me play in fostering this community of hope at Taylor University.