To my small group girls...

 I am excited to hear about all of your adventures through college and into adult life.  Please know that I will always make time to listen to you or offer wisdom if needed.  I promise to pray for you daily.  I promise not to judge or love you less if or when you make decisions that might disappoint me- I would rather hear about it from you and offer a shoulder, so please reach out.

Keep Christ first, and success and the rest will follow.  The habits you set in your first weeks of college tend to be the ones that you are still in the habit of doing by semester's end.  With this in mind, find a church quickly.  Find a small group or bible study group quickly.  Get out there and attend campus ministry events to seek out new friends that will encourage and uplift you.  Prioritize your work and studies, but never before your God.  People will know you for your actions more than your words, so live in a way that shouts to all around you that Christ is King of your heart.

And finally, know that this blog is intended solely for you.  I will update it at least once a week, pulling from other sources as well as my own heart hoping to offer something to bless you as much as you have blessed mine in the last 6 years.  We may be unable to meet weekly for small group, but I am making a commitment to continue to offer some small group wisdom.

I pray that God continues to knit our hearts together, I also pray you all continue to uplift and hold each other accountable despite the distance and busy college schedules.  I hope that we can get together for small group reunions as Sharon suggested, but even without that I know that you girls have created something deeper than friendship because you are apart of a forever family in Christ.

I will close with this today:

Romans 12:9-18
 ⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
 ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
 ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.


In HIS grip,
Heather