Wherever You Go
Sep 22, 2024 | by The Fellowship
Our granddaughter graduated from an exceptional private high school in 2022. An excellent writer since a very young age, she gained recognition for her talent through elementary school and junior high -- and won awards in high school. When it came time to go to college, she decided that a small liberal arts school would suit her better than a huge university.
After much research and sending out applications, she chose a highly ranked college in Tennessee. This school of 2,000 emphasizes service to others as well as academics. It also offers a semester abroad. How delighted we were when she received a scholarship to this prestigious school!
Her junior year has just begun, and it has brought the excitement of spending the fall semester studying at a university in Florence, Italy. On Labor Day, she boarded the first of two flights that took her to Florence. Upon arriving at the university, she was assigned living quarters in a flat with seven other young women from colleges across the United States. Because all of them speak English, a lot of stress was relieved!
One of the seven is also a student at the same college in Tennessee, but their paths had not previously crossed. The first order of business was to get acquainted with seven strangers and work out some guidelines for sharing the same living space.
Our granddaughter experienced some homesickness during the first few days because almost everything was very new and different. But there was consolation in knowing that in October when the university goes on break, she would have some company. Her mother and a favorite cousin as well as her grandfather and I will be there with her during the break. Together, we plan to get in some serious sightseeing.
One of her concerns in the foreign environment was to find an appropriate English-speaking church in which to worship. A strong Christian, our granddaughter is very committed to attending church services every week as she has done for her entire life. She took the challenge to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to clearly lead her to the church of His choice. All of her family In the United States were also praying for the Lord’s guidance!
The answer to her prayer was not long in coming. The other young woman from her college in Tennessee came to her and told her she had been researching English-speaking churches and found one that sounded like a good possibility. Would she like to go check it out with her on Sunday? Our granddaughter had no idea that this student was also a Christ-follower and was delighted to accept the invitation.
The young women were welcomed by the church and felt right at home as they sang the praise songs and listened to the sermon. It was not very different from the services they were used to attending in the United States. Another huge blessing was spotting three other young women who also appeared to be university students. They made a point of getting acquainted with the trio and soon learned their assumption was correct!
The church is very tuned in to ministering to the university students and offers a Bible study for them on Wednesday evenings. All five expressed a desire to attend. Not only did our faithful Lord lead our granddaughter to a great English-speaking church, He provided a group of Christian friends who will continue to grow in their relationship with Him and each other through spending time in His Word. Truly an exceedingly abundant answer to prayer!
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9