By Jen Crisp, Class of 2020
Spring semester of your senior year of college is really special. Campus is buzzing with post-grad plans, senioritis has finally gone into remission, replaced by the tender nostalgia only a student in the final lap of their education can express, and if you’re anything like me, denial that everything is about to change has officially set in.
My college experience was as close to perfect as I can imagine. I was serving in a ministry that I loved, growing in my faith, living above a coffee shop with my three best friends, and was within walking distance of a Sonic. You can imagine how devastated I was to leave. Graduation would be a bittersweet mix of celebrating all of our accomplishments and being excited for what was coming next, but also mourning one of my favorite chapters of life.
Everyone kept telling me how exciting life after college would be! New opportunities, new people, and a new city were all waiting for me. During the months after college, I tried searching for the excitement that my friends and family kept telling me about, but if I’m honest, it was nowhere to be found. The first few months out of undergrad were riddled with sadness, anxiety, and a deep loneliness like I’d never known before. All I really wanted to do was go back to living in that apartment with my friends in our tiny college town. In my classic style, my instinct was to return to what felt most safe to me. God, in his great kindness, met me in this need and was truly able to do immeasurably more than I could have ever asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
Fast forward 3 years, I can see that moving from Tennessee to North Carolina to become a member of the Charlotte Fellows program was a complete leap of faith, but turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.The Lord took my loneliness and replaced it with a built-in community of believers who have turned into lifelong friends. He took my fear of the future and provided a deeper trust in his sovereignty. He took the doubt and worry I had and revealed just how faithful he is.
This program is not easy. I can’t promise that you will become best friends with every person in your cohort or decide to call Charlotte home at the end of your nine months here. What I can promise is that if you show up emotionally, learn to be okay with joining other broken people in a Christ-centered community, and trust that the God of the universe knows and loves you more deeply than you could ever imagine, you will not regret it. My time as a Charlotte Fellow truly helped me to “start well” and I can’t wait to see how the Lord will continue using this program in the lives of others and in the city of Charlotte!
Disclaimer: Charlotte’s amazing and is my home now, but unfortunately the rumors are true—we do only have one Sonic.