Personal Revival

Freshmen year of college looks different for everyone. For me particularly, I had very little expectations and came to Athens without a clue of what I was doing. I remember praying that I would make good friends and experience a solid community. This was my one request of God. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that God and I began a journey that year, a journey I’m still on and growing through.

I came into college extremely self-sufficient. I had pretty thick skin, I built up walls to protect myself from others, and I believed I could do anything out of my own strength. Going to college was vulnerable for me, since I didn’t know what to expect or how to “do” college before getting there.
 
I knew God coming into college. I had good intentions of being His follower - I knew the Word pretty well and strived to live in accordance with His will for me, but I don’t think I ever really surrendered myself to Him. I went through the recruitment process, blindly, trusting that I was going to end up where I needed to go. I joined Wesley, trusting that my relationship with God would grow. So I had this innate trust in the Lord that I truly believe He faithfully gave me. I think I became torn when I neglected to trust my own trust in the Lord (if that makes sense). I lived in this conflict of knowing that God was good, and truly believing that, but then also believing I was entirely responsible for seeing that goodness come into fruition. I lived in this tension where I really did trust in the grace of God, but gave myself no grace under any circumstances.

So that brings me to my experience of God at a particular Wesley service in Tate. It was probably almost a month into the school year. I knew exactly where I was sitting in the room, most of who was in my row of seats, but I couldn’t tell you the topic of the message or anything Bob said specifically. I just remember worshipping during the ministry set and being overcome with a strong urging to go get prayer. I didn’t even know what I particularly wanted prayer for, but I remember getting up there, hardly listening to the person praying, but hearing the words of the song playing in the background.

I give You my life
I give You my trust
Jesus
You are my God
You are enough
Jesus
My heart is Yours
My heart is Yours
Take it all
Take it all
My life in Your hands
My heart is yours

God asked me for my heart that night. He wanted my trust, my faith, my allegiance, yes. But that night He was specifically asking me to surrender my heart to Him. I felt incredibly safe in that moment. I felt free and light, and I had a new vision for the days that were to come. I walked back to my seat after getting prayer entirely refreshed and joyful. I fully believe I received another blessing and anointing of the Holy Spirit to launch me into a new season of walking with God, instead of in front of Him or behind Him. Before that night, I knew God was good. After that night, I believed God was good and acted like I believed it, too. I recognized my tendency to be self-sufficient and surrendered that part of myself to God. I have to continue to surrender this God every day, but I think it really started that night at Wesley. Profound experiences like this with God are not super common for me, so I’ve found myself being extremely grateful for this moment and expectant to meet God in the mundane.

There’s more to this story about how God came through in the weeks following, and how even five years later God spoke into this same thing, full circle. But right now, I treasure this moment I had with God my freshmen year in Tate. It shifted the trajectory of my college days. The Holy Spirit rested on and within me in a way that completely influenced my daily walk with Him.
He gave me my heart and I’ve given it back. Amen and amen!

Author | Katherine Burnette