Dear Loved Ones,
Another year has come to an end. When I reflect upon all that 1994 contained, I am at awe at the ways that the threads of our lives are woven together.
I have yet to return home from Missouri for Ohio next week. Missouri. Who would have thought that I would be attending journalism school in Missouri? “Why did you come to Missouri?” A friend asked me tonight. I could only answer that it was because I was wait-listed at Columbia School of Journalism.
Within my answer, however, I sensed the strange turn of events that led to my study in Missouri. I visited the school during my senior year at Oberlin this past spring, and strangely I felt that I was to come here. So grudgingly, I listened to my intuition and I.’ve spent the past four months neck-high in journalism theory books, wrote several hundred pages of research papers, articles, exams, and was plagued by the inevitable question, “What do I want to do with my life when I graduate in two years?”
That question still looms, but through this year I’ve gained a sense of peace at the ways God works in our lives. I believe that God led me to Missouri for a reason and he has provided me with an incredible learning experience with talented classmates from all different walks of life. For a recent reporting assignment, I attended a local Christian student group that was just starting. The group’s leader began to pray and suddenly walked over to me to pray for me. “God loves to be with you. He loves everything about you. He is going to show you what he wants to do with your life,” he spoke.
His words gave me hope and I realized then that I was not alone.
1994 has included many wonderful experiences. I remember graduation week at Oberlin, spending time with my dearest friends as we talked until the late hours around a campfire one night. I remember this past summer at Oberlin, meeting wonderful new friends and saying a slow goodbye one last time to Oberlin. I remember packing and coming to Missouri, the blur of orientation, classes, and the graduate work’s intensity that shocked me even after four years at demanding Oberlin.
1994 has been a year of testing the waters, asking questions about my skills and career, striking out and meeting new people. Beautiful memories have already been made in Missouri with the lovely, talented people that I have met — watching the Dallas Ballet perform “The Nutcracker” with Kristin, sharing dinner parties with fellow graduate students after a round of exams, riding in an unheated 1969 VW with Rex to Memorial Baptist Church every Sunday morning, shopping with Ruth in the hot late-summer Missouri heat two weeks before her wedding, talking with every member of my family back in Ohio over the telephone on Thanksgiving Day, getting a surprise call from Paul in New York City, sharing twice-weekly telephone conversations about the mysteries of the male species with Megan, sharing coffee and comparing differences between Britain and the U.S. with my English friend Richard, laughing with my good-natured boss Peter at the KBIA studio…the list of treasured memories goes on and on.
Within all of this, I am amazed about how much we continue to grow each year. What will next year hold?
This year, for me, was one of stepping out blindly and believing that the expected would somehow work out. And you know what? I’ve found that the “unexpected” is often what is meant to be.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Teresa
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