Lauren’s Library Nook: My Next Chapter

One of the coolest aspects of life is that each of us is the main character of our own story — but it’s even cooler that we’re not our own authors. 

As no two books are alike, neither are any of our stories. We all live different lives with unique experiences and hardships that shape our personalities. Now, often our stories overlap with others, and we will even share some of the same characters — but that doesn’t make our own book any more or less valuable than another. 

The beauty of life is not based solely on our book and its table of contents, but is also found in the purpose of our character.

Transitioning into college three years ago, I didn’t know the purpose of my character. For one, I got rejected from my dream school, NYU, and came to Liberty with my own plan of transferring the following year.

But I thank God that I’m not the author of my story because I have learned that time and time again … His way is better. His hands that write my story craft it so perfectly with precision to which I would fall short if my imperfect hands would try to write the words of my book.

And I’ve tried to steal the pen … many times.

We go through life thinking we must have every detail figured out. We attend college expected to pick one major out of hundreds, and we leave college expected to know exactly what we want for the rest of our life. 

But that’s rarely the case. 

My time here at Liberty has taught me that not everything goes according to my plan. I’ve tried to make my own plans in life but because I am not the writer of my story, the milestones I have met here at college are far from what I envisioned – but in the best way possible. 

When we rely on our own plans instead of trusting in the plans that our Creator has for us, we are left disappointed, hurt and confused. 

I have felt this way for much of my college career, but I can also say that the doors that unexpectedly closed allowed many new doors to open — opportunities that were far better and were not from my doing, but from God.  

As I sit here and write one last column, I am confident that the closing of this chapter will birth new and exciting adventures. I might not be doing book recommendations and working for a newspaper – which will always have a special place in my heart – but I know that wherever God calls me is where I’ll go. Even if it happens to be thousands of miles away.

I’ll be spending my last semester of undergrad at the University of Limerick in Ireland. I planned this to happen three semesters ago, but like I said before, my plans don’t always work out because I’m not the author of my book. 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

If I can encourage you in any way during the season of life that you are walking through, it would be to have faith in a God who is the author of your story and has your best interests at heart.

I want to leave you with this – I fell in love with books because of where they take me. Maybe you added a few of my book recommendations to your list. Or maybe you didn’t. But either way we all have our own stories to tell. I hope you know how precious yours is to this world.

Now, onto my next chapter.

Shank is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter