Page 9 - Spring 2017 Magazine

frienDships
BuiLt on faith
by Mark Pomerville
Before Grace Smith ’20 attended Providence Christian College, she had very few friends who shared her hunger and thirst for learning more about God’s Word. Even though Smith had been a Christian all her life, grew up in a strong Christian family, and attended a Bible- believing church, scripture and theology were rarely discussed among the high school students at her youth group.
“It was discouraging,” says Smith. “I had so many young people around me who professed to be Christians, but they didn’t think deeply about why they believed the gospel. Even worse, they would pick and choose parts of the Bible that made them feel comfortable, but ignored the passages about repentance, confession, and the self-denial involved in truly following Christ.”
Having peers who were not like-minded in wanting to study scripture only fueled Smith’s desire to further pursue truth in relation to God’s Word. But she knew that if she was to continue to grow spiritually, she would need a strong biblical
education, as well as friends whose lives were de ned by their Christian walk and who shared her same values.
“Before I came to Providence, I prayed that I would find sisters in Christ on campus who truly valued the Lord and their faith in Him,” says Smith. “I needed fellow believers who made the Lord and the gospel their priority.”
In Fall 2016, Smith’s prayers were answered. While moving into her Providence campus dorm, she met her new freshmen roommates—Madison “Maddie” De Jager ’20 from Salem, Oregon and Charlotte “Char ” Zuidhof ’20 from Alberta, Canada. Smith, a native of Southern California, found that she and her roommates had shared interests and similar personalities even though they were from different parts of the world.
Smith and her newfound friends became inseparable, taking spontaneous road trips to California beaches, eating at
the local Denny’s and In-N-Out, and spending late-hour study sessions in their dorms.
contInued on page 10
Deeper Learning for Greater Wisdom
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