Not so poetic but hey...The adventure that is life...

Setting the scene:

I take myself back to a time around this point last year when I was rounding off my A levels with feelings of excitement and trepidation. I remember one morning around exam time when my Mum was driving us along the seafront to college and the Matt Redmond song ‘oh no you never let go’ was playing and I was thinking I’ve just got to get through this. Through these exams get the grades I needed etc. There was a lot also going on in life at that point but we won’t go in to that here.

A couple of months down the line I attended a bible camp called newday, it was a very challenging week in which I learnt lots about letting God take control of my life that at the end of the day he was the only one coming to uni with me! I was walking back from one of the evening meeting when Andrew Woods who I was walking beside turned to me and said ‘look’, walking just a few paces in front of us was someone wearing a ‘university of Birmingham physiotherapy’ jumper, Woodsy eventually persuaded me to go up and talk to her. The she in question turned out to be Cheryl who I now serve with on the youth team, at oasis church Birmingham.

A week or so later laying in a caravan bed, at about 7am there was the sound of a phone and Sarah poked me, I rolled over and she informed me I had got in to Birmingham, I made an ‘uh huh’ sound and rolled over and went back to sleep, feeling content J! So that was that, I knew where I was going, was I relieved, was I nervous?! I wasn’t really sure. One worry started creeping in to my head, what if I don’t make any friends?!

The last part of September was tough, packing was the hardest thing I’d had to do in a while, I would start then about half an hour in, just dissolve in to tears. Just 2 days before I was set to leave I found myself in this predicament so went for a walk up the west hill (a truly beautiful sight that overlooks the sea, the old town and the fishing boats, a good place to think.) wandered down to the seafront and to my delight Sarah was working in the sweet shop so I popped in and we chatted and laughed and hugged for a while.

Two days later the big day had arrived, the car was packed, the nerves were rolling, stopped off at Grandma’s for lunch, arrived at the vale, ran around like a headless chicken attempting to get everything sorted. When we had unpacked enough that I could be left with the remaining suitcases it was bye bye parents time (we’d done bye bye brothers the day before) tearful hugs and they were gone. I felt numb, after going to bar one and getting to know flatmates a lil I lay in my new bed that night, unable to get to sleep and thought ‘welcome to the rest of your life’.


Let’s fast forward and change gear


First term:
The first term of university were three of the best months of my life, I felt free, alive, living each day for the moment. I loved the adventure of getting to know people, discovering something of their story. Discovering new places and doing new things. There was no history on enmity and no complicated past relationships to create divides. I had never been more grateful of being a Christian, having God on my side, every step of the way. It was through Christian union and church that I met some of my closest friends. Finding a church was one thing I found quite difficult but I trusted God and I feel he has put me in a church where I can grow in my relationship with him, and serve him wholeheartedly, I am so blessed!

When it nearly fell apart:
The first month of the second term was placement. Everyone else was coming back after Christmas to get stuck back in with their courses and have fun together. Whereas I had to quickly unpack my stuff, pack a load of stuff and head to Shrewsbury for one of the most challenging months ever! It got off to a pretty horrendous start the next day when I passed out seeing my first patient-whoops! At that point I was ready to give up, I got sent back to the hospital accommodation and lay on my bed listening to some Christian worship songs and crying out to God, I really didn’t know what to do! In the weeks that followed, I spent many hours on the phone to my mother contemplating dropping out, taking a gap year, finding out what I was supposed to do. When I returned to the land of students on Thursdays the support I received was fantastic. The friends that I had made in the first term showed their true colours, that they were genuinely there for me, which meant a phenomenal amount and encouraged me to keep going and stick it out. So here I am, I made it :) ! With much help from letters, texts, brownies and bible passages :) .

Friendships:
One of the most important things in life is the people we share it with. As stated in the paragraph above, I don’t think I would’ve made it through this year if it weren’t for the friends I shared it with. The girlie time with Lyds, Jo and the girlies, the many hours of moaning with Kirsty and the physios J and the crazy times bound to befall when in the company of Tim Miller and Joe Adams, the many lunches with Phil and Russ (and the very occasional one with the Mason WhiteJ ). I could go on, but I’d be scared that I missed someone off, you all mean the world to me, this year wouldn’t have been half as much fun without you, thank you for putting up with me and my ‘posh chavvy’ accent :P .

Singleness
‘If singleness is a gift, how come no one wants it?!’ a question I sometimes find myself pondering. I came to uni in a bit of a mess relationships wise, to be honest, uni came at a very good time! There was always this idea implanted in my head that people tend to meet their future spouses at uni –helped along by the fact my parents did. I have to admit I was half hoping for a knight in shining armour moment, for Mr Right to show up and sweep me off my feet –yeah right lol. Nothing in life is that simple! I’m just an individual with flaws and faults and I make mistakes, we all do; who one day hopes to find someone who can accept all my flaws, mistakes and differences and love me anyway. I have come to realise this is one of those things that needs a serious direction-from a director and on this particular topic where I stand right now is delighting myself in God, my maker, protector and saviour, who loves me completely for who I am and hoping that one day he has someone like that for me, someone with their own flaws mistakes and differences who I love regardless, and who loves me for me. For now I’m content in Gods plans, knowing that if there is someone for me, he’s got it sorted and if there isn’t there are so many exciting opportunities being single brings. So we’ll see what excitement the future brings.

Exams
Always a challenge! As some of you learnt firsthand (Joe and Russ) I’m not good with exam stress. This merely comes from a desire to do the best I possibly can, and not let myself down, I always know God has his hands on exams, and is a lot more in control than I give him credit for! For now I’m waiting on my results to see how it’s all gone but trusting that what God wants is what’ll happen!

Some outstanding events
Within every year are the times that you look back at and think ‘HA’ or similar, for me some of the highlights of my year include... sporting wise: making it through my first rugby match and not being one of the 4 members of my team hospitalised! Winning the kayak polo tournament at Warwick, getting a pb in the run at the biathlon having done v little training, getting in to the Sussex xcountry team when spontaneously deciding to run at the champs at Christmas, the finish line of my first ever triathlonJ and being voted ladies vice captain for the triathlon team next year. Random wise: dancing in the rain with Lydia and Jo, being tied to Joe for the last night of last term in a stubborn fight, making far too much rice with Lyds and Jo, houseparty, rolling down a big hill on the momentum weekend away, pudding party for my birthday, Jam house, gladiators at church, girlie prayer breakfasts, chicken Joes, 3 legged bar crawl through Selly oak, the last day of placement, propaganda, and late night chatsJ.

The last night
Following a fun night partying at Jam house we ended up at Lydia’s for a PJ party. After many ‘it’s getting light, its getting light’s from Thea, we emptied out on the vale, wrapped in blankets. Climbed to the top of one of the highest mason blocks and for about 2 hours watched the sunrise over the vale, it was glorious, the perfect end to an amazing year. A moment shared with good friends in awe and wonder at the creation of God and how he’d brought us all together to share the amazing past 8 monthsJ in which I know for me I’ve grown and changed in ways I didn’t think possible.

Grateful
I conclude this rather long piece with a real sense of gratitude. For the places I’ve been, for who I’m becoming, for the people I’ve shared life with (whatever stage) I’m honestly in awe of how everything’s turned out. Sure life is full of challenges, but that’s when we learn to lean on God and see how he works thing out for our good! Speaking of challenges, the next step for me is a trip to Uganda in a matter of weeks now. I know this is going to be a challenging, but hopefully a rewarding experience and I can’t wait to see what excitement this and the next year at uni will bring. What’s going to happen?! I have absolutely no idea but I know that with God, it’s going to be an adventure whatever and I look forward to it!



P.s Since writing this I've found out that i passed 1st year so will be back in brum in September!