Mackenzie Pitts // UNG Student & Kids Intern/Intern Coordinator

Living and growing in a college town where both your environment and the people around you are constantly changing can be hard when you seem to be constantly staying the same. God’s timing is a concept I’ve been struggling with lately and with that has come an abundance of humility. The Lord’s timing and plan for my life is unique to say the least, not reflecting what’s typical in the world. I’m 22 years old and I won’t graduate in four years, maybe not even five, I won’t get married after four years of college, and I won’t get to start my desired career at this young age. Coming to these realizations has left me questioning myself and God. When will it be my turn? What’s wrong with me? Has God forgotten about me? Has everyone else forgotten about me? Along with these doubtful thoughts have come extreme thoughts of pride. Aren’t I great too? Don’t I deserve this or that? Haven’t I waited long enough? What do I need to do to get that?

Rebekah Emerson // UGA Student & Worship Intern

I am a dreamer. Since I was a little girl I have loved dreaming. Daydreaming, dreaming in my sleep, or even dreaming big whimsical, romantic ideas of hopes for the future have always been my favorite pastimes. We are all taught to dream. In elementary school, we are met with the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, and this question seems to stick with us for the rest of our lives. Our answers change from “Popstar” and “Astronaut” to “Biochemical Engineer” and “Financial Planner”, but the idea of the dream stays the same.

Lindsay Wilson // UGA Student & Worship Intern

One of the most wondrous things about scripture is that we can find our story within the greater story of the gospel. It is no coincidence that the Lord has had me reading the Old Testament this semester. Since January, I have read Genesis-Deuteronomy (that one year reading plan, iykyk.) In these books, we see the story of the Israelites in a season of living in the wilderness after the Lord delivered them from slavery. I’ve never understood what people meant when they would refer to their spiritual lives and say they were “in a season of wilderness,” until I recently went through my own.

Andy Sanders // UGA Student & Worship Intern

My family used to fish with dynamite. No, really. Let me explain a little further. Back before dynamite was illegal for just anyone to buy, you used to be able to buy it in hardware stores. This was convenient for my dad, his cousins, and my great-grandfather. I can recall a particular story where they used it to fish one day. The idea is pretty simple: throw dynamite in the water, boom, and the shockwave stuns the fish, causing them to float to the top.

Caroline Clark // UGA Student & Communications Intern

A SHIFT IN SEASONS

I have all of the sudden found myself in an extremely interesting season of life. One characterized by graduation, wedding planning, major transitions, graduate school applications, and anticipating what’s next - despite the fact that I have very little clue what that is exactly. One of my favorite parts of being a graduating senior is the iconic question asked at any given moment – “What are you doing after May?”

Natalie Tyndall // UGA Student & Missions Intern

They say college is the best 4 years of your life. As a second-year college student, I can confidently say, by the world’s standards, so far, it is definitely not the best. For the past two years, I have struggled with extreme fear and loneliness that was given a few names about a year ago. In May of 2021, I was diagnosed with general anxiety, severe depression, and a panic disorder. OCD was recently added to the list. The weight of this has, most days, seemed almost too heavy to bear. Lies hide themselves so well, I am often confused on what is true and what is not. Fear wrecked my relationship with the Lord, and Satan began to have a heyday with my mind, convincing me that this loving Father whose Son died so that I could live, was a cruel man out to get me. Satan began to scare me out of living, whispering lies that this intense suffering would never end and that there would never again be hope. Praise the Lord that He is the only and surest hope anyone can have. By my Father’s standards, the past few years have been the best of my life. I want to share my story in praise for the Lord’s work and to encourage those suffering right now. So here is how the Lord has saved my life from the pit of destruction and has set my feet on a rock, His rock, making my steps secure (Psalm 40).

Jacob Furr // UGA Student & Watty Intern

Recently I have felt so encouraged and uplifted, yet also so convicted by the freedom of religion in the United States. I think of how we can meet corporately on Sundays to engage in life-giving fellowship, and then I imagine four believers coming together in a musty basement to read a lamp-lit Bible for five hours at a time - that was their monthly church gathering. I think of how I can go out to the Tate plaza with a handful of Great Exchange surveys and talk about my hope in Jesus to whoever says “yes” to me, and then my heart breaks to imagine the number of persecuted brothers and sisters that have felt the great division of wanting to shout on the rooftops of their hope in Jesus, only to be quieted by the imminent reality of death through evangelism.

Alexis Kelley // UGA Student & College and Communications Intern

There is a simple way to be full. Eat every day. At the beginning of this semester, after a conference like Reset, I want to encourage everyone to eat every day. Yes, eat food, but more importantly, dig into the Word. As we start this year and figure out our new schedules, I cannot stress enough the importance of spending time with the Lord every day. So, to encourage you in this, I’m going to walk you through one of my own wanderings through the Word. I will also leave you with some practical things that many wise people have taught me to do when approaching a more consistent time in God’s Word.

Carly Wade // UGA Graduate

Winter is not my favorite season. It’s cold, days are shorter, waking up is harder, and vibrant flowers and leaves fall away. Right when the cold starts to feel uncomfortable, I long for spring to arrive quickly. I long for the next season instead of enjoying or patiently enduring the present one.

Everett Sinclair // UGA Student & Watty Intern

Growing up in the church, I have heard many titles for God, many “simple” truths stated hundreds of times, and many stories about God moving in peoples’ lives. And while I see this as a huge blessing, in many ways these truths never sunk in. I never truly understood what I was hearing or what I was supposed to be learning. So, when I sat down to write for this post, wanting to write about a cool metaphor or theme I’ve been tracing through the Bible, something didn’t feel right. And when I actually started to write, all I could think about were some of these so-called “simple” truths that have taken me so long to even begin to understand. And after thinking about it more, I think it’s quite possible that I’m not the only one to miss out on some of these awesome truths and facts of the faith.

Emma Yarbrough // UGA Student & Discipleship Intern

There is a C.S. Lewis quote I read one time that says, “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Alexis Kelley // UGA Student & College and Communications Intern

One of the things I’ve been learning most this past year is friendship, specifically friendship that is united because of Christ. One of my biggest prayers coming into college was that the Lord would surround me with people that loved and adored Him. I prayed that they would lead me closer to Christ and that they would encourage me to share Him with others around me. Now, as a third year at UGA, about to finish my fifth semester here, I can say with a filled and grateful heart that He has answered those prayers more abundantly than I could have ever imagined.

Adria Stevens // UGA Student & College Intern

As I was preparing to write this blog post, I was sharing some ideas with another intern, and she said “Wow it seems like we are all writing about similar things.” At first I started panicking, searching my mind for a new blog post idea. I can’t write about the same thing as other interns! I have to bring something new, something creative, something that makes me look good. Then she snapped me out of my spiral into pride by saying, “but I guess we are all writing about the gospel, so that is bound to happen.”

Wes Allen // UGA Student & College Intern

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 JOHN 3:1 (NIV)

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ROMANS 5:8 (ESV)

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ROMANS 8:37-39 (ESV)

Sophia Steed // UGA Student & College Intern

“I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.” JEREMIAH 31:4

“When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” 1 SAMUEL 18:6-7

Kyle Wade // UGA Graduate

To begin, here’s a short parable from our Lord Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus told the parable because he wanted his disciples to know “that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (v. 1). Please set aside a moment to read it thoughtfully, even if you have read it before. It’s quite short and worth your attention: