The Highlight Reel

Hello friends!

I’m writing this after my first day of junior year here at Texas A&M University. It'll be a short message today, but I hope it will be encouraging nevertheless.

This evening, as a way to celebrate my happy moments, I posted the following photo on my Instagram story.

I love to do this so I have photos to look back on and reminisce. God showed up for me in a lot of ways today. Dr. Amen, psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist, says that every night before he goes to sleep, he asks himself, “What went well today?” Today (and the past couple of days) a lot of things have gone well; however, in between the highlight reel moments are moments of anxiety, tiredness, overwhelm, and indecisiveness. Stepping onto a college campus is truly like stepping into a different world. Thankfully, the transition gets easier every year, but as the buzz and excitement of a new school year wears off, soon we’ll likely all be stressed, homesick, tired, and ready for a break. So, before times get too tough, I hope to impart some encouragement to you.

#1: Do you really trust God?

I was encouraged by something on Laura Eldredge’ story today. She was on Bailee’s podcast, and she co-hosts a podcast of her own called Call Her Holy. She does something called “ask me anything” Monday. In response to one of the questions submitted, she suggested that the person ask themselves the following question: “Do I really trust God?” I think we should all take a second to ask ourselves this question. Our answer to the question determines a lot about how we live our lives.

#2: Go private before you go public.

I learned this concept from a book titled Be Loved by Emma Mae Jenkins (now McDaniel). This basically means to take time to pray, read God’s word, and sit in God’s presence before you step out into this crazy world. For me, I know that I cannot pour from an empty cup, and apart from God, I have no wisdom or goodness to offer anybody. The saying that, “all that’s good in me in Jesus” is definitely true.

#3 Social media is just a highlight reel.

Although I started writing this post on the first day of school, it's now my second day of school, and I decided to come back and add this last point. Though my first day of school photo dump is quite beautiful if I do say so myself, I did not post a second day of school photo dump, as it was not nearly as glamourous. However, dwelling on the negative never helped anyone. As my anatomy professor said today, "successful people show up, give it their best, and move on." I hope you do that today and the rest of this week.

For God alone, O my soul,

wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

Psalm 62:5 (ESV)

Love,

Breanna Reese Chavez