Jeremiah 29:11

My senior year of high school I began to panic about the concept of college. I had little clue what to expect, what to study or where to go. We were assigned a guidance counselor to help us along the way but she pretty much gave me a packet of applications, had me fill them out and she sent them in for me. She didn’t discuss with me any options. I wanted options. What do you do in college? What’s it like? I had only one sister out of all 5 of us who graduated from high school. She did go on to college but because of the distance in years between us, I never talked to her about college. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know what she got her degree in until a few years ago! I floundered and cried and was all confused. Where should I go? Should I go? And the biggie- how on earth could I even afford it? How much does it cost to go to college?

In 8th grade I signed up to be a part of the 21st Century Scholar program. To this day I don’t even know what all that entails but I do know that they give you a sizeable chunk of change for a scholarship to help with college.

This is what I thought I did know. I wanted to go someplace small, with a Christian atmosphere that is close to home. I wasn’t even going to dwell on what to study. I’m terrible with decisions to begin with. Can’t I just be doctor/lawyer/singing/actress with no schooling? That’s what I had planned to be from the time I was about 6…

I had applications in to Evansville, Taylor, Central Bible College and Bethel.
Just before graduation the panic set in. So I got on my knees and began praying like nobodies business. God, do you want me to go to college? If you do, where do you want me to go. And oh the tears. I think God filled 3 bottles. That night I was reading my bible and came across the verse in Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I had actually never heard of that verse before. God was speaking directly to me. I finally came to a point where I really didn’t know what God wanted, and I didn’t want to do anything without knowing what He wanted so I gave up. But I had that verse so I just stopped worrying about it. In the meantime, Bethel College had a recruiter calling me. He would call every now and then and check on my decision. One day he finally just told me a day we could come and check out the school. So my mom and I went.

Before the big day my mom said that she wanted to talk to me because she had a dream. She told me her dream, and that the dream was of the college I was to attend. Somehow, I don’t remember anything else other than that. Just that mom had a dream.

We got to Bethel and had our tour. We went through the cafeteria and there on a huge banner hanging up at the front of the room were the words of Jeremiah 29:11. I felt a little tickle in my heart that said I was in the right place. We ended the tour and on the way home my mom described her dream and said Bethel looked just like the dream she had except for a few things. But she never told me those things.

So I wound up at Bethel. By the end of my freshman year they had the new Fine Arts building up and the pond put in that is just in front of it. When my mom came to visit me around that time she just kept looking around the campus grounds. Then she told me: “Joy, that building and that pond were in my dream. When we came to see the school for the first time, they were the pieces missing from my dream.” God gave my mom the dream with a picture of the completed campus. (At least completed up to the 4 years I attended.)

All that just to say. Isn’t God amazing?

I did graduate in 1999 with my degree in Church Music Ministry. And now.. I'm a secretary. But that's beside the point. 

And coming up someday soon: "Study to Worship: My College Experience".