I met my husband after one semester of college. We were engaged after three semesters and married after my third year. Working full time meant taking fewer courses so I took two additional years to finish my degree, five years in all. I worked in the accounting field from my graduation until the birth of our first child. In addition to what my parents and scholarships and grants provided, I borrowed $9,900 dollars during those two years for my education and bought my first car. With the help of my husband, I paid off both loans in the first four years. Though I have not been gainfully employed since, my credit score is impeccable.
Laying a solid foundation for life is incredibly important, especially for a life of faith. As believers in Christ, we have a firm foundation from which to build, but like a contractor, we must be able to read the blueprint. We are not left alone with this endeavor any more than I was tossed into college courses without the proper prerequisites. When we trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and surrender our lives to God in Him, we find all the help we need from His Holy Spirit who takes up residence in us.
”Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.“
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.6.19-20.NLT
”For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,“
Ephesians 4:4-5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.4.4-5.NLT
”“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.
The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him.
But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.
And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”“
John 14:15-18, 21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.15-21.NLT
As believers, growth happens in the Spirit, by obedience to the word of God. You will never experience growth in the life of faith without this vital element of surrender. God’s will must become more important than my will for me to lay aside my agenda, take up my cross and follow Him no matter where He leads. (Luke 9:23)
In my final year of college, I enrolled in a required elective course through the Philosophy department, the Philosophy of Religion: God, Faith, and Reason. To my mind, I would find a reprieve from science, math, marketing, and statistics in this course, as part of the required reading was CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity. The topic of study was defined as the Nature of Religion; Theism and the Theistic God; and Other Positions. My professor chose to camp out on the “other positions” side of the canyon. He was a self-proclaimed pastor turned atheist with a captive audience. It was the first time I had a chance to defend my faith in a somewhat hostile environment. I felt a little like young David facing off with Goliath, but already I knew God would have the victory.
I was one of two married students in the course. My classmate and I shared lunch most days after our biweekly lecture. Her husband was deployed by the navy for six months on a ship in undisclosed territory. Mine was in medical school. We shared our frustration with the misleading information being fed as fact to dozens of impressionable minds, but more than that, we wondered what on earth we could do to make our faith known without compromising our grade. We were both paying for our own tuition and nearing graduation. Repeating a course was not an option.
In the end, I graduated with an A in the course but only after pushing myself way outside my comfort zone to lead in classroom discussion, largely playing devil’s advocate, as it were, to our professor’s spin on every assignment. Even then, I was a writer and I believe this fact alone saved my grade. Maybe like Steven, “they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.” (Acts 6:10) Jesus’s words of encouragement to His first followers are still as true today as ever.
”“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers.
But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.
When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say.
God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.“
Matthew 10:16-20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.10.16-20.NLT
Jesus gave us permission to call on God our Father, our Abba- a term of endearment like Daddy- when He taught us to pray.
”Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.“
Matthew 6:9-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.6.9-13.NLT
He beckons us to stay alert, to keep watch for His return as He asked His disciples, Peter, James, and John, on the night of His arrest and trial. He returned three times and found them sleeping. Let His admonition to them find its way into our hearts today as we stand firm, awaiting His return.
”Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”“
Matthew 26:41 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.26.41.NASB1995
”Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.“
Hebrews 10:23 NIV
A Fitting Reply 
love this, thank you for sharing
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Thank you for letting me know 🥰 That’s such an encouragement to me!
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