Introduction

Hello, it's me (And I'm not Adele so I'll stop this right now)

Anyways, as you may have gathered I will be starting a blog and will post on it semi-regularly. My main goal of this blog is actually to create a space for myself to process and reflect on all that I learned and experienced at a global missions conference this winter called Urbana 15. Secondly, I would love to share with all interested friends and family in detail about Urbana too, and this will also serve that purpose well!

(Disclaimer: with these goals in mind, my posts may not have perfectly correct grammar, there may be things I could say differently or in a more concise manner, and there are many things I am still unsure about so I ask for grace in this! This is my first blog after all.)

You may ask, why the title: "Letting Go and Leaning In"?

To answer that question, I would say that these are two of the most important lessons I have had to learn. As a college student away from home I have had to let go of living at home and a certain way of life that came with that. I have let go of certain relationships, of certain luxuries, and of certain expectations I had of my college experience. As a follower of Jesus, I am continually in the process of letting go of my own plans for myself, letting go of my pride, and letting go of my expectations of others in order to love them like Jesus would.

I also believe the concept of "leaning in" has characterized my college experience (and I do hope it characterizes a part of your life too). I have found something I really love, and given time, effort, and work. (This thing for me primarily being the choice to follow Jesus and secondarily being involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) And the going has been very tough at times. I have questioned many things and grappled with many issues. But in those moments I have found it has been very helpful and ultimately beneficial to lean in to it (to lean into Jesus) and keep on keeping on. To not walk away in frustration, but to take time to listen. To take yourself out of the equation for a bit and ask Jesus what He sees in the situation because a lot of the time some of our best growth and transformation can come out of conflict and tension.

While that is a small glimpse of why this is my blog title, each blog post will probably expand on one of these two concepts (or both) and the ways that God has been helping me become better at each one. Real talk: these are two of the hardest things for me to do. I absolutely love control and having a plan so I'm often very bad at letting go, and on the flip side, I hate any sort of conflict or argument so when conflict happens I feel like I have a natural urge to run away. I love feeling comfortable and getting along with people, but how will I ever grow if that is my only experience? Anyway, welcome to my blog!!