Standing in a university auditorium with 40 Nicaraguan Christian college students singing their familiar praise choruses this weekend, I felt some things I haven't felt in some time. Community. Connection to the Scriptures. Passion. Like a part of my soul was reawakening...One of my friends had invited me to the 1st Annual Congress of CECNIC, the network of Christian college students--imagine a Latin American version of InterVarsity, and you've got it. With a combination of dynamic teaching, worship, fellowship, celebration, and some evaluation and planning for the coming year, it was a full 2 days.
During those two days, I was filled with nostalgia, remembering the very special and beautiful time my 4 years in the college fellowship was...an experience of growth and community that I had never experienced before or since. I found myself wondering if perhaps God would open a door for me to pour out the love I have always felt for college students, but here, in Nicaragua. I recalled my own heart's desires during those years, just to be listened to, to be invested in, to be cared for. To my great delight, my connections with the students came naturally, with an immediate warmth and depth to conversations that I could scarcely have imagined. And with at least two of them, I sense a real opportunity to be part of their lives in the year to come.
Sometimes God gives us gifts that He knows we have longed for, but been too afraid to hope for, or too caught up in the shadows of doubt and cynicism to even know to ask for. This is what happened to me this weekend. God gave me an incredible gift---a new reason to hope, a renewed sense of purpose, a new vision for the kinds of relationships He has brought me all this way to build.
Sometimes God gives us gifts that He knows we have longed for, but been too afraid to hope for, or too caught up in the shadows of doubt and cynicism to even know to ask for. This is what happened to me this weekend. God gave me an incredible gift---a new reason to hope, a renewed sense of purpose, a new vision for the kinds of relationships He has brought me all this way to build.
Lord, help me step out of the shadows and live fully in the light of Your hope, so that I can approach all my tasks and relationships with Your love instead of fear and doubt...
2 comments:
Yay Pam! I'm so glad God blessed you with this great opportunity. There is just something about college students that makes them so easy to talk to, so approachable, so open. I wonder why that is.
I, too, have not felt that same sense of community that I had in IV since I graduated almost 10 years ago. It was such an incredibly profound time for me. I wish I could have savored each moment more as it was happening. I think I assumed then that my friendships would always be that close and my community would always be that beautiful. A taste of heaven, perhaps?
I have decided not to wish for the same thing now, because I am at a different place. I will make community and contribute to it the best I can wherever I am at. Right now, that means with other stay at home moms. Oh my word, I'm getting old. :) (I still think of my self as "college-aged"; what the heck?? I was slapped back into reality when I think of how today's college freshmen were 8 or 9 years old when I graduated).
I always thoguht you were good at talking and bonding with students at UTSA.
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