Graduation was just around the corner, and I was feeling the pressure to figure out what I was going to do next.

Or rather, I was aware of the pressure to figure out what I was doing next. But was I really feeling it? Actually, not really. I’d been learning a lot about the importance of putting first things first, and I’d discovered that other people’s expectations of me were not on my list of priorities.

Let me explain. The previous year, during a study abroad trip, I’d had an experience that left me deeply and forever convinced of God’s perfect love for me. You can read more about that here, but one of the many wonderful effects of that experience was a conviction that I didn’t need to do something to deserve God’s love. And this complete freedom and peace in the sense of God’s love being right here, right now, helped me realize that my real priority was to devote time to knowing God better and to serving others as a way of honoring God and His love for me and all.