As a student at Auburn, my life was in transition. I didn't know it at the time, but God was using my time there to not only learn what I needed to know to become a pharmacist, but also what I needed to know to become an adult. I had been a believer since I was 13, but my time in college was a real turning point for me. I became more aware of what it meant to walk with God. I grew in maturity. My faith was strengthened. The summer before my freshman year, I attended a freshman orientation session. There, we had various activities designed to immerse us in "Auburn culture." One of these activities involved learning the Auburn creed. If you learned it and said it to your camp leader, you could stand up before everyone at the last assembly and have chance to win an autographed football signed by, then head coach, Terry Bowden. I learned it and I won the football. (Something I wish I had sold to the kid who offered me fifty bucks for it that night. Oh, well. You live, you learn.)That creed contains this line at the end:
...I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God"...
My freshman year, I was lucky enough to have a roommate who helped me in my journey and also inspired me. She exposed me to Christian music artists --some I already knew, some I didn't. One of our favorites was Stephen Curtis Chapman. In his song, The Walk, he repeats lyrics inspired by this verse. When I heard this, I immediately pulled out my Bible and I found these words in Micah. Not only was I extremely proud that the creed I had learned and believed in as an "Auburn woman" contained a passage straight out of God's word, but I connected some dots in my life at that point. God had been speaking to me for a very long time, and seeing those words in His word was a confirmation that I was on the right path. I never forgot those words.
Fast forward a (few) years...I started working with GAs. Coming from a small, country church growing up, I was never exposed to GAs before. So, I had no idea that the little verse from Micah that I held so dear would show itself again. One of the main verses in GA is Micah 6:8. The minute I heard those words being recited by those smiling girls, I knew again...God had put me there. I was following His path, His will.
I don't always choose to do justly. And sometimes mercy is not on my tongue. But when it's not...I'm always reminded of this verse, and it brings me back to the right path. The path that leads me to walk humbly with Him. The path is not always straight. Most of the time it is very narrow and sometimes rocks cause me to stumble along the way. But He is always there beside me. I am so glad that now my daughter, whether she chooses to become an Auburn student or not, will have this word to hide in her heart. And she will know the truth it took me almost twenty years to learn.