My first year at FLBC was a huge growing experience for me. I came into the year with high expectations, excited for the classes and all that I would learn in them. I was looking forward to meeting new friends and experiencing the community here. And, of course, I really wanted to grow in my faith and reliance on God.
In the first semester, I enjoyed the classes and was growing through the information that I was taking in. Almost instantly, I established several really good friendships and continued to make more as the year went on. My relationship with God also grew significantly in ways that I did not anticipate when I arrived.
Because students here are constantly in the Word of God and surrounded by other believers, the environment at FLBC has the potential to help us grow. However, the enemy does not want us to experience growth. As the weeks went by, I was tempted to be discontent and even resent the very things God was using to foster growth in my life. The college experience was becoming ordinary and mundane to me, and I allowed myself to have a negative attitude about many things. I directed most of these negative thoughts toward the Bible College, even though I loved being here. God was trying to use FLBC to lead me closer to Him, but I was listening to the lies of the enemy, which directed my gaze inward to myself rather than upward to God.
I signed up for summer team ministry with hopes of experiencing growth through that opportunity. Just as I had hoped, I made it on a team. But rather than feeling excited about it, I began to doubt whether I should actually do it. I shared my remorse for signing up with friends and was met with overwhelming feedback from them that serving on summer teams was God’s will for me. This is one of the clearest times that I have seen the hand of God working in my life for my good because, in hindsight, I can see that it was undoubtedly God’s will for me. The purpose of summer teams is to serve different churches and dedicate your time to their needs. Serving God through serving His body caused me to grow so much in maturity and closeness to Him.
One of my biggest prayers throughout the last year has been that God would make me a spiritual leader and man of God. I unwittingly tried to sabotage this prayer by my negative thoughts and my doubts. But God, in His infinite mercy, still worked in my heart to accomplish His will in me. God did not work in spite of my failures; He worked through my failures to make me more like Him. I know I can rest in the finished work of Christ in my life even when I fall short. When I feel defeated by my old nature, I know that Christ lives in me and has plenty of fight in Him to overcome my failures. Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Eli Grotberg [FLBC sophomore] is a member of Grace Free Lutheran, Valley City, N.D.
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