Student Blog Written By: Kaitlyn Meadows, Fellows
Coming to Impact, I thought I had it all together. I had been homeschooled my whole life, never got into trouble, was friends with everyone, and knew the answers to all the theology and apologetics questions.
I was one of the only ones in my high school friend group without any mental health issues, and my parents had sheltered me from the internet and social media.
I knew I would learn and grow at Impact, but I thought my emotional and social life did not need help.
God first started to unravel that assumption when the Fellows took the “TKI” conflict assessment. I knew that I was conflict-averse and people-pleasing, and had tried to work on those things over the years to no avail. The assessment confirmed that knowledge, by giving me scores in the mid-to-high nineties for both avoiding and accommodating, and scores lower than fifty for all of the other conflict types. I realized that my tendency to accommodate other people’s wishes without protesting, even if I did not agree, was not being humble, but simply viewing my ideas as less valuable than other people’s.
The next step in the unraveling of my assumptions came at True Face. I came into the week convinced that I was not the target audience of the retreat, because I did not think I was wearing a mask. God quickly showed me that I suppress any emotion that does not make me feel good, and that was a problem. God taught me that week how to acknowledge negative emotions, including admitting when someone hurt my feelings, and forgiving them instead of making excuses for why they did what they did.
Since then, God has been continuing to teach me how to see my emotions and my preferences as good and not less significant than those of others. He has shown me that I am created the way I am for a purpose, and that includes my emotions, even if they make me feel overdramatic at times. He also showed me that what I have to think matters. I am still growing in these areas and have by no means learned to fully accept my emotions or view my preferences as worth voicing, but God is continuing to help me grow.
We believe that when a student is rooted in truth, they become a catalyst for the Kingdom wherever they go. Help us continue to forge disciples who possess the resolve to stay faithful and the tools to make disciples. Your investment in the Multiply Fund makes this transformation possible.