Confident in College?

  AHHHHH!!!!! I can hardly believe that I'll be starting college in less than 48 hours!!! That is so crazy. I feel as though a new chapter in my life is starting, and in many ways that is very true. But like in any book, things will carry over into this next chapter. My family and home (I will be commuting to school from where I've lived my whole life), my personality, and most importantly, my faith.
  Nowadays it's super hard to be confidently Catholic, especially in the late teen/early adult years when we're still trying to find ourselves. I would argue that school settings are some of the hardest places to enact and live out our faith because of "science" and "free thinking" that is all too often encouraged incorrectly. I'm kind of scared to be heading off to college because I don't know exactly what it will be like, who I will be meeting, and what sorts of challenges I will be facing. I know two things for certain though (and these will be true for every single Catholic college student):

               1. My faith will be tested immensely. I know this as surely as I know my name. Satan prowls around campuses and wants to see us fall. I will have my work cut out for me not only in my classwork, but also being an example of faith to my classmates and professors. College is notorious for introducing faith-filled people to all sorts of worldly ways of thinking, especially in the theistic context. Catholics have a really hard time of it. We're the outsiders. Most people won't agree with us, and we might get persecuted for it. It won't be easy, but I'm not worried because of the other thing I'm certain of.

                2. God is on my side. I know this MORE surely than I know my name. When God and faith are involved, He will always be on our side as long as our goal is to serve Him and follow Him in everything we do. That includes college and everything that goes with it.  The straight and narrow path has never been easy, but it will always be worth every step.

  So this post is basically encouraging you to stay confident in your faith even when the circumstances don't want to allow it. It will  be impossible to do it on our own, but God will be with you every step of the way! Draw your strength from Him, put on your spiritual armor, and have a great year in school!