People always talk about \u201cdoing what you love\u201d or \u201cfinding your passion.\u201d Poetic and valid, yes, but the process is not exactly one-size-fits-all. You can\u2019t discover your passion from a Google search. I came to Cedarville undeclared\u2014I had no idea what to do with myself. I wasn\u2019t overly worried, but I was on the edge of my proverbial seat, waiting for what the next chapter in my story might be about. Turns out, the Lord wrote it better than I ever could have.<\/p>\n
My story did not begin with Professional Writing and Information Design. I first declared public speaking as my major, but only for a semester. I loved it! Giving speeches was a blast. I realized the power and responsibility held in articulation. I figured that this skill could prepare me for various roles in ministry, and that was my main concern. I wanted to study something of value in which I could find satisfaction and integrate my faith. But as much as I loved the major, it wasn\u2019t right for me. I couldn\u2019t explain it, but I knew my story had something else in the chapters to follow. I wanted a different challenge.<\/p>\n
So, I made a big switch to molecular and cellular biology. Talk about a different challenge. I assumed there would be many opportunities in the medical field to minister to people, and certainly it would be satisfying to play a part in bringing people back to health. So, during that full year of science classes, I studied harder than I ever had before. And I loved it! I enjoyed sitting down to do homework for hours on end. I was fascinated by the vast amount of information that I had access to. However, I realized that I simply had a passion for learning, not for biology itself. I knew this wasn\u2019t right for me. I had the capability, but I didn\u2019t have the passion. The Lord wasn\u2019t writing this into the next chapters of my life either.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy weren\u2019t these majors right\u2014especially if I loved them both?\u201d I\u2019d ask myself. I had everything else in place. I had defined my life goals, not just my career goals. I hoped to marry my boyfriend and have a family someday. I wanted to move back home to the farm. I planned to show my family the world just like my parents did. Most of all, I desperately wanted to serve the Lord with my whole heart in my career. But I still didn\u2019t know what that would be.<\/p>\n
After a long night of scouring the academic catalog, I saw a program called Professional Writing and Information Design. I flipped to the next major. But then I flipped back. After looking into it a little more, I emailed Professor Carrington and scheduled a meeting with him the next day.<\/p>\n
I walked into his office prepared. I had laid out my four-year plan in perfect detail. I had my questions written down. I was ready to make a good, intelligent first impression.<\/p>\n
After finding my seat across from his desk and shaking hands, I summarized my situation for him. He smiled. I was on task, going at Mach speed, but he slowed our conversation down. He said he wasn\u2019t so worried about my competency, but about my interests. He said that if I liked it, I would most likely do well. He said that the best students are the ones who like their studies.<\/p>\n
I mirrored his smile. I took a deep breath. I didn\u2019t know it then, but I had walked right into one of the most important meetings of my life. I was skeptical at first, though. I couldn\u2019t quite wrap my mind around why anyone would want<\/em> to write. For me, writing had always been an assignment. I had a knack for it in high school (thanks to a great English teacher), but I never practiced it in my free time. In spite of my doubt, the Lord gave me an inkling that I might like it. By the end of the meeting I had switched my major again!<\/p>\n I began my writing classes. \u201cI can see this. I love my homework. I can feel how this will fit in to ministry\u2014I have so many ideas\u2026\u201d I would catch myself saying over and over again. I began to notice concepts from the classroom bleeding into other aspects of my life. Writing classes not only taught me how to write; they changed my mindset. Every word should be considered carefully to accomplish the purpose of the document, just like every action and every thought should accomplish my purpose: to praise God. I knew that I was giving it my all. This chapter of my story kept getting better.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not over yet, and I wouldn\u2019t re-write my college experience any other way. I gained valuable insights and skills from my previous majors that have helped me become a good writer. Public speaking gave me a respect for words, persuading, and connecting to others. Biology sparked my interest for diverse knowledge and taught me personal discipline to keep the spark burning. Professional Writing has given me a platform to unify those passions into a satisfying practice. I love helping people say what they want to say, effectively. I love simplifying things. I love improving things. This major isn\u2019t for everyone, but it sure is for me. The Lord is a grand Author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People always talk about \u201cdoing what you love\u201d or \u201cfinding your passion.\u201d Poetic and valid, yes, but the process is not exactly one-size-fits-all. You can\u2019t discover your passion from a Google search. I came to Cedarville undeclared\u2014I had no idea what to do with myself. I wasn\u2019t overly worried, but I was on the edge of my proverbial seat, waiting for what the next chapter in my story might be about. Turns out, the Lord wrote it better than I ever could have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,20],"tags":[36,46,32,47,48,4],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Write-Major-Blog-Header-Better-than-I-could-have-written-it-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":695,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/thewritemajor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}