Relationships...

Relationships are essential to life... and all my life, I've longed for deep meaningful relationships... right as I began to make them, I moved to India. Some of these have continued to flourish, but others have dwindled. This summer was an amazing time of growing closer to people around me. It made me desire all the more to be around those people and get to know them and just spend time with them.

But when it came to applying to schools, I actually applied to two schools that were completely separate from any sense of anyone I knew. My first acceptance came and I was really excited and ready to move to Boston. Second came and they offered a huge scholarship (and was a better school) and I was ready to move to New Jersey... then, the third comes, a school that I have no idea why I applied. It's a good school, but is close to home, so I really didn't want to go (and it's expensive). They, too, offered a huge scholarship that is making NJ and this one basically cost the same (not counting living expenses).

So, since the acceptance, I've been spending a lot of time praying about it. And God keeps telling me about relationships. By the time I move back, I'll have been gone for three years, and not just down the street. On the other side of the world. Relationships matter. And I want to nurture those in my life that I can. This means, my brothers (who will both be in college at this point), my mother, and my church family that I've grown to love. School, of course, will allow me the new relationships that come with a new stage in life, while allowing me to grow in old ones.

Moving back to a place where people know you is so much harder than a new place. But growing around and with them is so much more rewarding.

I never thought that my answer would be close to home, but apparently, it is. God is clearly telling me to go there.

No matter how appealing living 30mins away from Manhattan is!