Setting off for uni can feel like venturing out into the wild, whether it’s for the first time or the third.
The big wide unknown. The wild of uni can be bursting with new adventures, or teeming with strange new creatures. It can be a jungle of temptations, or even a scary, lonely mountain-climb...
How do you prepare for that? What on earth do you pack to walk into the unknown? What one thing are you going to make sure you take with you?
Setting off for uni four years back, I was definitely one of the keen ones. The car was packed full to the brim with everything from crockery to fairy-lights to months-worth of freezer food and I’d been waiting to leave home for a little too long. I felt I knew who I was and was ready for the new challenges; ready to face them with Jesus.
Three days down the line - ‘slag and drag’ night in the freshers week line-up - I sat in my room getting ready, lost and scared as anything. I was totally unsure how I was going to do another night making friends and joining in with my hall-mates without just blending in, getting tipsy and being flirtatious. I remember praying this prayer that Moses prays in Exodus, that if Jesus didn’t go with me, I didn’t want to go.
‘The Lord said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.”’ Exodus 33:14&15
It still wasn’t obvious to navigate, but I ended up forging friendships with some of my best friends that night – even bonding over trying not to look slutty! And from there starting each night and each day with this prayer gave me courage to live each step with Jesus, fully getting involved in uni life without compromising my faith.
Nothing could have prepared me for the jungle of wild nights, strange new people and the fear of adventuring by myself that I encountered at uni. Slowly though I discovered that if the presence of God was with me, I had everything I needed; everything I needed to navigate the unknown temptations and challenges of uni culture, everything I needed to create friendships and build a life.
So as you head off into the wild of uni this September, whether for the first time or not, if you can take only 1 thing.. take the presence of God.
