The title of my blog was pretty easy for me to select for 2 reasons. 1) The name Kristen actually means "follower of Christ" 2) Being a follower of Christ is my overall life objective but also my main focus for the year 2011. The verse that has really stuck out to me the past few months is:
Luke 9:23-24 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up their cross daily and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
I have been extremely and utterly blessed to be given the name Kristen. A name or title is something that we all have to live up to. After 23 years of having this name, I have only scratched the surface to discover what this name truly means. This past year has opened the flood gates and has really challenged mean to actually live up to my name and find out what it looks like to be follower of Christ. So let's recap this past year, shall we?
About this time last year, I had NO desire to go to grad school right after college to get my MBA. I knew I would be going to get my MBA at some point in time, but I REALLY didn't think it was going to be right after school. I thought I would work for a year, make some money, see what's out there and then go back to graduate school. Seems logical right? I mean, people do it....
Well, I decided to accept the offer to be in Niagara Falls the summer after my senior year without knowing what I would do after that. I figured, "Well, if I figure out what I'm doing for the summer, that's like a baby step to figuring out what I'm going to do the next year for the rest of my life." Sounded good to me! Baby steps, just baby steps.
*Sidenote* The decision to work with the Niagara Power proved to be SUCH A BLESSING. I learned and grew a lot working with the them and the Kern's, who manage the team from their basement. I won't go into much detail now but maybe in a future blog.
After I decided to spend the summer working with the Christian baseball team (seriously the PERFECT combination for me), there were some ups and downs. Who said figuring out God's call for you was easy?! Because I feel that once you've received God's call and decide to follow after Him in that way, that's when the devil really tries to get at ya (more explanation to come, probably in the blog with more details about the Niagara Power).
So after deciding what I was going to do for the summer, I spent that Christmas break looking into MBA graduate schools. I SERIOUSLY did some research. I studied for the GMAT the past Christmas break and without coming to any conclusion about what I would do after the summer. I went back to school, still not doing what I would be doing come August 2011.
It wasn't until I got back to school that I distinctly remember, being in my room one Friday (I believe), getting ready in front of my mirror and feeling God say, "Kristen, you should get your MBA at Ithaca." I was just like, "wait, what?!" So then, I tossed around this idea. When I was looking into other MBA schools, I always figured that I would apply to Ithaca because it was a one-year program, I didn't have to take the GMAT and because I knew the professors and people here. I always considered the Ithaca College MBA as a back up, never a first choice.
But, after talking it over with my parents and praying to God about it; this is where I felt God was calling me. Just to test the waters and see if this is really what God wanted me to do, I applied.
Needless to say, I got in and am happy with my decision (thus far). The program is rigorous (finance, accounting and decision analysis or 3 numbers classes in one semester, who would PLAN for this?!). I definitely feel there is a difference between undergrad and graduate school; like all I do is work and go to class and do school work. Yet, thankfully, I still have friends, a church family and God that can get me through this year (or semester in the least). I don't know why God has called me exactly to get my MBA here and now....but I trust that whatever He has up his sleeve is the right decision for me. Thankfully, this decision is actually what my parents suggested from the get-go. So it's reassuring to see how God incorporates and supplies some of our needs and desires that the world requires to fit into His plan for us. *QUOTE* The world's plans shouldn't fit around God's plan, the world's plan should fit into God's plan. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Though I still don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing for a job, I'm still looking around to see what's out there. For right now, I think my focus is on my studies and SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY being a light to the people in my MBA program. They need Jesus' light just as much as people in Africa, right. If this program and these people are my mission field, then I pray that they can see God's love through me and that I am able to "let [my] light shine before others, that they may see [my] good works and glorify our Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
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