Graduation Day

I graduated high school from Liberty University Online Academy this Saturday, May 19, 2018, wearing rain boots. 

Commencement was damp, a bit chilly, and incredibly rainy to top it off. However, despite the weather I had such peace about my graduation and a heart full of joy to be on that football field filled with thousands of other graduates from Liberty University. 

To be honest, standing/sitting outside in the rain for several hours wasn’t really what I had in mind or expected for my graduation. But one lesson that I’ve learned throughout my unique high school experience is that things don’t always turn out the way we expect them to. And maybe that’s okay. 

Quite literally, each year of my high school has been different from the last. 

I started my freshman year of high school at a private Christian school that I had attended since the second grade. I went into that year excited to be in high school and anticipating the day I would graduate from there with all my friends. However, my plans changed quite drastically when I left that school about 3 months before the end of the school year due to circumstances that were out of my control, which made it not safe for me to stay there anymore. For those last few months, I was homeschooled with a group of my friends who had also left soon after I did. I went into that summer completely unsure of what I was doing for the rest of my high school, let alone the next year. It was like everything and all of my plans got shattered. I’ll be honest, it was a pretty rough summer and that next year wasn’t a walk in the park either.

But still God was there providing for me even when I didn’t see it. He was faithful to me even in my anger, confusion, and bitterness. 

My sophomore year I attended Covenant Christian School, which was a brand new school that had basically just formed throughout the summer. I was actually one of the first students to enroll. That year I was one of four total full-time high schoolers. Though I was thankful to go to school alongside 3 of my best friends, I dealt with a lot of bitterness in my heart about my situation in life and the lack of justice from my former circumstances. It was like a big cloud of emotions that I couldn’t quite place onto one particular thing, so sometimes that “cloud” would dump on other people or things that didn’t deserve my “dumping” so to speak. About halfway through the year and also towards the end of that year, the Lord was patient with me and convicted me on some things that were not right in my heart. I had allowed a bitter root to grow, and I needed to let God be the Gardener and remove that burden by pulling out all those roots.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, that year was extremely healing for me. It was a place where I both wrestled with God and ran to Him for comfort all at the same time. I learned a great deal about forgiveness, both in asking for it and giving it. 

Also at the end of my sophomore year, my brother Michael graduated high school from Liberty University Online Academy. It was a rough year for him too, so seeing him standing on that football field with all the other students brought me to tears and stirred something in my heart. It was such a picture of God’s faithfulness to my family, and I will always treasure that moment. Michael’s graduation also planted a small seed in my heart in considering online education for myself. 

Later on that summer, I thought about a few different options for my junior year: going to Covenant Christian School full time, attending LUOA full time, or doing part time Covenant + part LUOA with college classes. It was only a few weeks before the start of junior year, and once again I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do that year for school. My family and I were on vacation at Topsail Island (a place that’s very special to me, but that’s another story for another day) for the week, and in that week I sought the Lord constantly for direction of what to do. God had shown his confirmation for one option in a few small ways, but I still wasn’t 100% sure of which path to take. One night I was praying and I absently thought, “God, just show me a big conch shell and then I’ll know it’s you for this option.” Then I quickly thought, “No, Sarah. That’s stupid. God doesn’t work like that.” 

I somewhat forgot about the whole conch shell thing as I went to bed. 

The next morning I decided to just enjoy the vacation day and stop worrying about all of it. Later on in the day, I went for a walk with my mom along the beach to look for shells as we often did. I swear God has a sense of humor, because I found so many pieces of conch shells that I couldn’t even hold them all and even when I gave some to my mom, she couldn’t hold them all either! 

The rest of the week I could barely find even one piece of a conch shell on the whole beach. God makes me smile sometimes. 

That night I decided to do part time classes (Pre-Calculus and Physics) at Covenant and do the rest of my high school courses through LUOA, plus dual enrolling in several college courses online through Liberty. Once I made that decision, I had such a peace in my heart the whole rest of the vacation. That decision, which I believe the Lord guided me to make, has shaped my life in so many ways and given me so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of doing. Granted it’s always taken me a few minutes to explain whenever someone asks me where I go to high school, but it’s certainly a unique answer. 

I grew so much in myself and in the Lord my junior year, and I am also SO thankful for all the wonderful teachers at Covenant.

And now here we are at the end of senior year. 

This year I was entirely online for both my high school courses with LUOA and my college courses through LU. Through doing school this way, I’ve been able to travel more, learn new skills, and mature in myself and in my faith. I’ve also finished (almost) my entire freshman year of college, too. It still hasn’t quite sunk in that this huge season of my life is over. Endings and beginnings all in one. 

Graduation day wasn’t quite what I expected, but neither has my high school been for that matter, so the rain was really fitting to me in a good way. Before the commencement ceremony ended and all the graduates went off to their separate ceremonies, the Sounds of Liberty music group sang the song, “When I think about the Lord.” The lyrics of the song are as follows:

“When I Think about the Lord,

How He saved me, how He raised me,

How He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.

How He healed me, to the uttermost.

When I Think about the Lord,

How He picked me up and turned me around,

How He placed my feet on solid ground

It makes me wanna shout,

Hallelujah,

Thank you JESUS,

LORD, you’re worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,

And all the praise.” 

I stood on that football field with my hands lifted high, worshipping God despite the rain. 

Graduation day was so much more to me than just the passing of one season to the next. It was like a long awaited promise that I could finally see. I wish I could go back to the hard times where I didn’t understand what God was doing and tell my younger self that everything will be okay. In fact, it turns out even better than just okay. Because God isn’t a God of just okays or half-ways. He’s a God of abundance and hands overflowing with conch shells. He’s the God that carried me through it all. And looking back today, I can honestly say that through the hard times, through the best times, both in the valleys and the mountain-tops, He is Good. 

Through it all, He is always good. 

Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. 

 

(Me in my Hunter rain boots the day of graduation!)