Four Days till Graduation

I made the drive from Houston to Austin today, and spent half the time deliberating how to begin my final blog post here. Nothing seems to adequately capture the culmination of my four years, nor the bigness of the coming transition. I guess a direct approach works best: I am graduating from UT, and am moving on from four wonderful years as a student.

I suppose I’ve been realizing that I have a 50/50 method of dealing with change. Half of me thrives off it, and there’s nothing so fresh as a lively chunk of alteration. The other half frets about leaving behind some of the people I’m closest and most comfortable with. But in all the wildness of change, there’s still the one thing that remains: the Lord in my spirit. As a graduating senior, I’d like to share what this has meant to me, and reflect on a couple pieces of Scripture and hymns that have touched me the most during my time at UT.

The Precious Proving of our Faith

So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7)

Get this: What is “precious” here is not our faith (which is, indeed, very important), but the proving of our faith. The entire focus of this verse, and of our Christian life, is not some unchanging lump of faith that we’ve been endowed with, but the testing of it, by means of fiery trial, to bring it forth pure as gold. When I first became a Christian, I had the idea that since I had Christ, my number of flat tires and sore disappointments would reduce. But I’ve realized that in an abundance of negative situations, there’s something positive—the shaping and soldering of my faith, meant to be found in glory to Christ at His return.

It’s like what Job said in chapter 23: “But He knows the way that I take; should He try me, I would come forth as gold” (v. 10). How encouraging that we’ve been guaranteed an end product of gold; our struggles are purposeful struggles, since this is their result. And the punch line, in Job 22:25—”Then the Almighty will be your gold nuggets and precious silver to you.” Really, this lifelong solidifying and infusing of faith is just God being added to our being, as a precious and everlasting deposit of true gold. Surely He will be glorified at His return, coming to receive a people to Himself who are filled with Christ.

Tell Him All

When thou wakest in the morning
Ere thou tread’st the untried way
Of the lot that lies before thee
Through the coming busy day;
Whether sunbeams promise brightness,
Whether dim forebodings fall,
Be thy dawning glad or gloomy,
Go to Jesus, tell Him all.

–Hymn #788

I actually discovered this hymn quite recently, but it’s been on my mind ever since, and feels like a take-away from all the prayer times I’ve had in college.

“Tell Him.”

The Lord is a Person who we can get to know in a most sweet and personal way in our spirit. We can confide anything in Him, and He listens. I’ve found that as soon as I tell the Lord, He has a way to come in and be a part of whichever details I’m concerned with or celebrating. These couple of sentences highlight how near and gentle my Christ is: “Many times we think that the Lord is great. Even though our Lord is great, He does not neglect the small things. We may think that what we tell Him must also be something great, or else He will not listen. Little do we realize that our Lord never neglects the small things. There is nothing that is too small for the Lord to listen to…He knows our emotion, and He sympathizes with our heart.” And after time and time again of coming and telling the Lord, He has gained my heart.

Finis

There are so many other verses, songs, and experiences that I could record here—about the Lord’s shepherding, my time spent in a home meeting for the past 2.5 years, and my goal being God Himself (Hymn #350). The highlight of college would be all these experiences of mine, which carry an eternal weight, and will bear me onward all the days of my life. Thank You, Lord! This blog post is a good, solid hurrah.

By: Erin Kedzie