As I talk to you guys and some of your parents I start to hear what’s going on in your life and what each of your plans are for the future. I love hearing how God is working in your lives, and it’s great to see God unveiling His plans for your life as well.

Some people say that high school is some of the best years of your life, and for some people it might be. I know for me I had 2 years that were great, but I also had 2 years that were miserable. But that’s going to be different for everyone. I wish that high school isn’t the best years of your life, because I wish you have better years after high school as well.

I hope you all know that what you put into your high school years will affect your future. If you work hard during high school for the most part it will pay off. Well… it might be better to say that you’ll have more options if you work hard in high school.  I have heard numerous stories about hard work paying off including in my own life. I have unfortunately also seen the contrary of people focusing on things other than school and regretting it.

If you know me, then you will know that I was one who always tried to do my best, and many would label me as the “Overachiever”.  I was the one who graduated with honors, accepted to every college applied to, and the one who took college classes in high school. I hope you don’t take that last sentence as me bragging, but as me telling you guys more about where I come from.  I hope to share with you some things that I wish I had realized when I was in your shoes.

One thing that I wished I knew is that that your transcript doesn’t define you. This is a tough one for me; I’m still learning this one. God still loves you regardless of that grade you get on that test, and if you score well then God is not going to love you more.

When I was in high school I was always focused on getting the best grades and maintaining honor roll. That might not be the best mindset though.  We should be focusing on learning instead of achieving a certain grade. Enjoy learning and having the opportunity to learn, because there are many people in the world that would happily be in your shoes.

You should try your hardest with school, and if you do so then be proud of whatever you earn. Know that in a few years it won’t matter what grade you got in a certain class, so don’t stress about it. That’s another thing I’m still learning. I recently got a D in one of my college classes, and part of me is still stressing from it, because I have never gotten a D before.  I should be proud of that D though, because I worked hard for that D. I went to many study sessions to try to understand the concepts better, took practice tests, and made study guides.  Honestly I worked harder for that D; than I did the classes I got a B in.

The second thing I wished I knew was not to expect college to be fun and not hard. Society makes college look like it is all fun and games, and for some people it is. I pray that this won’t be you, because many people who listen to society end up not having the college degree to show at the end. Also college is NOT easy; you have to work hard to do well. For the most part in high school I didn’t have to study. There were only a few classes that I actually had to work hard to do well in. This is not the case in college. I wish I learned how to study better in high school, because I was at a major disadvantage in college because of it. I had to reteach myself how to study successfully.

Now at this point you’re probably getting tired of reading about grades and hard work. So I’m going to write more about the college life outside of the schoolwork. College life is a lot of fun. It is fun having the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want, but it’s not always fun. There are going to be times when you question why you decided to go to college in the first place. Many of these times will be in the cafeteria when you have to eat cafeteria food for 3 meals a day; don’t think I’m kidding about this. There are going to nights where you’re crying your eyes out because you miss home so bad. And please don’t read this and think this won’t affect you because it will. I was one who thought that way and I regret it.

Third, I wished I knew that God’s plan and my plan don’t always match up. If you would have asked me in 2010 when I was a little high school freshman what my life would have looked like I would have given you a detailed description of a life that I have I no desire to have at this point. And honestly I’m thankful for that! God has given me an even better life than what I could have imagined as a little freshman, and thankfully who I was at that time is not who I am now.

Another thing that I am still learning is how to trust that God’s will for my life is better than my own, and that everything happens for a reason. Please, don’t ever think that God doesn’t know what he is doing in your life because he does. There were and still are a few things that I constantly wonder why God has put these things in my life, but I’m learning to put those things in His hands, because ultimately He will use them for his glory.

So as I come to a close I pray that you take a few of these things to heart, and that you’ll be able to learn from my mistakes. The things I wrote are my own opinions, but I try to base my opinion off scripture and what God has taught me. Below are the scriptures that I referenced to while I was writing.

Feel free to share this blog post and/or tell me about your opinions either in the comments or by contacting me in another form. I will always be happy to further discuss my posts with anyone.  I write for His glory and not my own, so if this blog touches you then give Him the credit and not me.

Scripture References

“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy’.” ~Romans 9:14-16

“‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’.” ~Jeremiah 29:11

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ~Romans 8:28

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