What Lights Your Soul on Fire?
“Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.” Song of Solomon 4:1
This past semester of college, I have been living abroad in Italy. While this sounds really cool (and believe me, it was!) There was a lot that went into the semester in order for it to be all that it was. Before I went, I had to complete lots of paperwork, go to several doctors appointments, and even meet several of my classmates- I was going to be living with them for four months, after all!
I chose this study abroad program because I wanted to experience a culture and life as different from south Georgia or central Alabama as possible. I wanted to go somewhere where nobody knew my name, and I would have to open my eyes, ears, and heart in order to truly see other people.
As a part of this program, we got to go to several different underserved schools just south of Rome and teach the children English classes. I got the chance to teach children all the way from first grade to 12th grade, and we did everything with them, including attending church services and singing hymnals (in Italian!) This program allowed me to combine what were my lifelong passions with what I believe my callings in life to be. Children, underserved global communities, and spiritual support systems are all such a big part of who I am, and the fact I was given the opportunity to combine all three was such a huge blessing that I owe only to God.
God created you. He made you deliberately. He numbered the hairs on your head and knew your name before you were made in your mother’s womb. He laid out a beautiful life before you and saw everything you would do before you spoke your first word. God created you with a passion so deep we cannot even comprehend it! He created us to be fiery, devoted, driven, and passionate.
Find what sets your soul on fire, and do it in such a way it will glorify God. In this journey, He will make it abundantly clear how you can do what you are passionate about while also serving Him. The Lord works in ways we will never understand in order to give us beautiful, divine purposes that are flawless in his eyes.
Even though I missed a semester at Auburn, I still managed to follow my passions and learn so much about myself and the love of the Lord in the process, and it was done in a way I never would have found elsewhere. Find your strengths and dedicate the work you do with them to the Lord; He will light a path for you that is sure to ignite passion in you.