Live Wholehearted

Dear Friends, I hope that this finds you all well and healthy at this difficult time. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. After having written my last trip post in January, I intended to take a few weeks to adjust to school, but then get back to this blog and continue writing about the smaller things in my life, and some of the other thoughts that God puts on my heart. It’s funny how life gets in the way of even our best intentions though, because here it is now the beginning of April, and I’m just now sitting down to write.

Wow, how the world has changed! 6 months ago I was in India and facing one of the hardest weeks of my life. 6 weeks ago I was in Irvine sitting in classes and hanging out with friends. Right now I am sitting in my room at the desk in my closet. I’ve been home for a little over two weeks and am still entirely unsure of what to do. When you live your whole life in the fast lane, it’s slow down and change gears.  

I would like to think that since I’ve jumped around so much recently, that I would be quick to adjust to life back home, but in reality, this has been the hardest adjustment yet. I really do not have much room to complain though because this pandemic is affecting everyone and I have it relatively easy compared to those who are sick or have sick loved ones and people like high school and college seniors who have had the final pages of this life chapter torn away. However, I will admit that I have not had the greatest outlook as I drag myself through the mind-numbing cycle of homework and various distractions that I have designed as a way to keep myself out of touch with my emotions.

On my blog’s ‘About’ tab, I wrote, “I believe anything can be an adventure if you choose to make it one.” My goal with this blog was, yes, to keep friends and family updated on my trip, but also to encourage daily adventures and see beyond the mundane every day that so often seems to pale beside the grander stories. Up until now, this blog has been about my grander stories and adventures I had as I traipsed across the globe last semester. In those moments, it was not hard to find adventure or make life fun and exciting. It’s harder now though, and I find myself being put to the test, questioning whether adventure is possible or not.

Maybe some of you find yourselves in similar positions, wrought by boredom and coming to face the dull emptiness that we all try to fill with a variety of things and activities. I hope that most of you are handling this with more grace, and I pray that we can all come to peace at this time. I may not be the best person for this as I’m not listening to my own advice right now, but I wanted to offer some words of encouragement to everyone anyway.

“Live wholehearted.”

These words are sung by the band For King and Country whose songs have given me a lot of comfort and wisdom in many moments in my life. The chorus of their song “Wholehearted” writes “You taught me how to love, to live, to learn, to live wholehearted.” God is teaching us how to live, learn, and love with everything in us, even in the hard times. I know He is working to teach me how to fully live in a time where I do not feel wholly alive. Living wholeheartedly does not require fun adventures, but rather a focus on God as the one who fills the long hours of the day and the emptiness that we try to shove full of other things. I’d encourage you to go listen to the song and all of its lyrics below, and I pray that this could be a time that we find adventure in the storm through God.

Brief Life Update: Since the Trip

I’ve been busy the last few months between flying back into the U.S. in December and driving home to Colorado for quarantine, so here’s a quick update on my adventures.

• -One of my best friends and I flew to Atlanta, Georgia over New Years to go to the Passion 2020 Conference, where we heard awesome speakers and worshipped with thousands of other young adults.

-I went to Joshua Tree National Park for a weekend where we camped, climbed rocks, and got our car stuck in mud for 3 hours and had no choice but to call a tow truck and sit laughing at our misfortune to make it fun.

• -Our campus’s women’s ministry team hosted a women’s retreat in the mountains where I had fun meeting many of the freshman and bonding with the girls as well as studying the psalms and hiking in snow.

• -A group of friends tried to go surfing at midnight, and while there were no waves, we had fun putting on wet suits and pushing each other around in the cold water.

-I got to dress up and go to a ball for the inauguration of my university’s new president.

• -I got a job as a tour guide and have had so much fun showing prospective students around our campus.

Well, hey, thanks for reading, and I pray that you are all staying healthy and finding joy and peace through this time.