Our church started a series on tough questions this past weekend. What surprised me, aside from these tough questions being ones I’ve wrestled with almost endlessly, is the reminder in my Facebook memories that 11 years ago this week, I was really wrestling with the whole “What the heck am I supposed to do with my life?” question after a professor kindly asked me, “What are your passions, Karen? Because I can tell teaching isn’t it, and our schools need more passionate teachers.” I was also recovering from a very mild bout with mononucleosis. It only knocked me out for a couple of days.
I love Facebook memories sometimes, especially from my pre Twitter days. I’ve reread old blogs regarding life and my lack of dating and what the heck am I supposed to do with myself… All the (not so) good things of a college student in the early days of social media. Today it brought up a note I had written on Facebook about trying to figure out what my major should be if not education. A missionary came in and talked about symbols in the New Testament and how they related to Judaism and I couldn’t get enough! I ate it up. I wanted more. So I changed my major. But it didn’t stop there.
A few months later, visiting my hometown, I went to the local university. When I was applying to universities in high school, I had applied to this one, but chose not to attend because I’d know too many people there. I wanted to break free and build my own identity. But this particular visit, I told my dad, “I wouldn’t mind coming to school here.” I was a junior. For some that is a really late game changer, but since I had changed my major just that semester, and I needed smaller class sizes, I applied. And I was accepted. I started at that university just over 10 years ago, nearly a year after being asked about my passions.
I was asked hard questions. I sought the tough answers. I didn’t know how it would turn out and here I am, 11 years later, still wondering. But I’m learning to keep asking those hard questions and seek the tough answers.
I’m learning to tell my story.
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