“How do I choose the right college?”
Ah, the most anxiety ridden question you can ask yourself. As I said in the last post, this is probably the first real life, huge decision you’ve ever made. And some of you are terrified you’re going to make the wrong decision. What if you don’t pick the right school? What if God wants you to go to the large state school and you choose a small, private liberal arts? What if, gasp, you make the wrong decision and miss out on God’s plan for your life?
Take a deep breath and try to read this next statement without wanting to slap me.
God doesn’t care which college you choose.
Okay, calm down. God cares about you and thus He cares about the decisions you make. But I’m here to tell you that His will for your life is to love Him, obey Him, and become more like Him. And yes, He has a wonderful plan for your life, but that doesn’t mean He has X college in mind for you and if you don’t choose that college, you’ve failed and missed out on everything He has planned for you. He wants you to make a wise decision and in my next post, I’ll list out some of those factors I think you should consider, but right now I want you to release yourself from thinking that God is calling you to a certain school (or major, for that matter). I’ll say it again, and hopefully it won’t sting as much this time. He doesn’t care which college you choose. Where you go to school is low on the decisions list that He cares about.
Some things I’m sure He really cares about: how you treat your siblings, how you honor and respect your parents, your motives in how you choose your college, how you love your roommate, how you show His light to others, if you choose to date and marry a man that loves the Lord like crazy, if you love Him–your Savior–more than the things of this world. What’s funny is that you and I spend way more time worrying about worldly decisions (ie- which college or major) than most of the things I listed above.
So please. Free yourself of the pressure and anxiety that you’ve undoubtedly built for yourself. There isn’t one right–God’s plan or nothing else–college.
Now, after all that, certainly God gave you a brain and gave you personal references to make a good decision regarding college. In the next post, I’ll talk about 5 key factors I think you should consider when processing your choices and making that decision.
