Don’t Stop Believin’…. How faith can support you through college!

Photo by Rosie Sun on Unsplash

Support system. How many of us have one? So many college students have very little support, while others have it, but may be too ashamed to get the help that’s needed. When the struggles of college get to be overwhelming, there is always a constant supporter there for you at any time. God! Finding your faith and working purposely to maintain it during the most effective years of your life, has tremendous benefits.

Striving to be your best and figuring out the rest has a toll on your body. Author Steve Carlson of Kettering health writes, there is an invisible link between faith and health. Around 32% of college students make the decision to pause their educational goals, most citing stress from financial woes, mental, physical, and emotional challenges as their ultimate deal breaker. Studies show that having a strong faith-based life has resulted in decreasing the levels of stress. The average student can relate to at least 2 of the top 6 stressors of a college student. Academic pressure, finances, mental health, social adjustment, physical health, and life changes. Depression is one of the most common mental health concerns for any adult. It can be caused by many different traumas but often the cure is the same. Community.  Talking to God through prayer and conversation, creates a comforting space to be vulnerable and allows God to lead you to the right peers. Having a community of like-minded people with similar experiences and triumphant stories can be a turning point in your journey.

Maintaining your faith in college, is not as easy as one would think.  50-80% of students lose their faith. Late night study hours, early morning class, social commitments and 40-hour work weeks. The average life of a college kid, but if you’re able to squeeze in time for God, it’ll make for a happier life and manages the stress levels that merge into various health concerns.

Here are a few tips on how to keep your faith, morals, and values while still enjoying the college life.

• Finding a church family- whether on campus or elsewhere, staying steady in church attendance is the one of the best ways to stay strong in your faith.
• Utilizing on Campus faith options- Be open to attending events that are centered around faith, there you will have less temptation and build your community.
• Reading your bible daily- Building a private relationship with God, creates a clearer understanding for his promises over your life.
• Listening to your spirit- This will grow overtime, but when you have that gut feeling, its often the spirit in you giving you direction.

If I can encourage just one person with one thing it would be, don’t stop believin’ just like the hit song says. Journey’s rock and roll hit, perfectly embodies the mindset of the average college student. Each person going through their own trials and at the brink of giving up. The song preaches, to never stop believing, which most assume to mean in themselves or even believing in their dreams. A deeper and alternate implication could be to never stop believing in God. Street light people, a few of the lyrics at the end of the song, I interpret to mean, that any dark road that you may be traveling, looking to the light will always guide your footsteps. Ironically that light requires you to look up.