After being raised in a multi-denominational household, I always took for granted the church homes my parents provided me with. I never realized what it was like to have to discover a good fit for myself. I was more than comfortable in the churches where I grew up. I had formed wonderful relationships with the youth groups and, more importantly, I was used to the ways of my pastor and priest. It was scary to think about having to adapt and accept a whole new spectrum of a faith home. I will admit, freshman year I mainly worried about fitting in, which resulted in my faith getting put on the backburner. Toward the end of the year, a friend and I visited different churches for a couple of Sundays in an attempt to find a new church home, but we didn’t have much luck. Sophomore year I was determined to find a place of worship I wanted to attend every week.
One of my closest friends with a strong faith background and I had the same mindset and ventured together on this difficult journey. From being the youngest attendee by at least 30 years to a three hour service, we started to lose hope. Finally, we found a church with a service similar to both of our churches from home. Granted, it wasn’t the exact same and it was hard getting used to something different, but as an individual I realized I was maturing in my faith because I knew it wasn’t about the little details; it was about being in God’s home and having others to share that with. By junior year, my friend and I made sure we went every Sunday together. In fact, we found other sorority sisters who were attending the same church and we all started to carpool. I will not lie, there were the occasional Sundays where we had been out late on a Saturday night after a formal dance that we decided to sleep in, but overall, we attended regularly and had a sense of fulfillment in our adventure and faith experience in college.
College has actually been a time where I feel I have grown the most in my faith. I found an amazing campus ministry in which I have formed wonderful friendships. As a part of the “growing up” process, it has also been interesting to see where other people are in their faith journey. One of the best parts about college is meeting so many people. Along with that comes the opportunity to share your faith with others. As well as agreeing with some on your faith opinions, I have learned to tolerate people who have extremely different points of view than I do; because I know I can learn from their beliefs in order to strengthen my faith.
A key factor to finding these people to share with you in faith requires some bravery. Talking about your faith is not the easiest topic of conversation when you’re meeting new people, especially in college when you’re in an environment with judgmental people from all backgrounds; everything from extreme religious beliefs to atheists. But, if you let down your guard a little with people you learn to trust, discussing faith issues can be one of the most comforting conversations when you’re in such a transition-filled part of life. I will never forget a girl I met my freshman year in a Calculus II class. After doing everything to survive the class together, we formed an amazing friendship, discovered many similarities and discovered we even shared a similar vision of faith. All it took was a simple conversation mentioning campus ministry activities that led us to being comfortable sharing any aspect of our faith journeys to each other.
While I was fortunate to find a friend on the same faith level as myself, I also found two very close friends who came from different religious backgrounds. Despite the differences, we respect each other’s faith journeys and in fact have helped each other grow in faith. These friends live hours away from me, yet when we travel to each other’s homes for weekend get-aways and get-togethers in the summer, going to church together is always on the agenda.
When I look back on preparing for college, I knew I wanted to continue my faith. I don’t think I ever imagined the difficulties that were in front of me, but with a little bit of motivation and signs from God, continuing your faith when out on your own is one of the most rewarding experiences. It has been thanks to God and the faith situations I have encountered which have helped me get to where I am today.
Continue to believe in yourself and your faith. Faith can take you a long way in life.