Hannah Maria Joy

After graduation, I expected to miss seeing my friends everyday but I had no idea how much. I used to see my close friends nearly every day of the week and I miss that but even more I miss the sense of community at RC. I had no idea how much simply being in and around that community impacted me mentally and spiritually. Nobody told me that after graduation I would feel isolated. The community I found at college was one that reflected the church in Acts and one that should be a model for relationship and community beyond college. Eating together  Talking daily with one another about life, work, and God Rejoicing and mourning with one another  Challenging each other to grow and learn Having intergenerational mentoring relationships (with professors, staff, and students) Joining with one another in service and worship of our awesome God Having this kind of community for 4 straight years was a glimpse into God's Kingdom but it left me wanting more.  More community

In the last couple of months, the idea of image has been a common one. We've all heard it before "we are made in the image of God" but what does that really mean? Do we believe it or is it just something nice to say?  If we are truly made in God's image then to understand who we are and who God is calling us to be we need to first ask,   and begin to have an understanding,   of who God is. It is not possible for us to ever understand the fullness of God and I could go on for a long time about all the things that God is, but I'm not going to do that right now.  Instead, I want to focus on our perception of God and how it impacts the way we view ourselves--specifically girls.  First off, I want to say that God has no gender and there is both masculine AND feminine language and imagery used for God in the Bible. Primarily though, we see and use the masculine language. Go back as far as you want and you'll find masculine language for God (He, King,

Tuesday was senior Academic Symposium at Rochester College. I presented on "Effective and Empowering Ways to Alleviate Poverty", which was based upon the research I have done these past two semester that stemmed from my internship this past summer. Academic Symposium is a pretty big deal at RC and for someone who does not like speaking in front of people I was really nervous to present. I expected to be relieved and overjoyed once my presentation was over at 9:30 Tuesday morning, but that was not really the case. I believe my presentation went well and I certainly did feel weight off my shoulders upon completion of it. But I was not overjoyed or even excited when it was over. I had a weird mixture of emotions: thankfulness, joy, sadness, relief, and maybe even a little fear mixed in there as well. For me, the end of symposium means the end of my time at Rochester College (sure, I still have 2 papers and 1 cumulative Hebrew quiz to do, but still). I am excited to be d

It's easy for me to say "God, I trust you." It's hard for me to say, "God, I trust you and I am okay with not knowing how or when you are going to act in this situation." I can be spontaneous and flexible. I love a good adventure and the unknown when it comes to exploring new things. But I am also a planner. I like to be organized, color coded, and prepared for what is ahead. When God doesn't show me how he is going to "work all things for my good," I get a unsettled and a little nervous. There seems to be two sides of a coin. On one side, I say I trust God to work but I do so much trying to "help" God work that I'm probably not really trusting that he is going to do what he has promised he will do. My excuse is, "I'm going to work super hard in this because then God can work through me... and I can get to my goal faster." On the other side of the coin is me trusting God and doing absolutely nothing to hel

I spent the last four weeks in Uganda as an intern with Kibo Group International. A total of 13 of us went on this adventure; 3 from Oklahoma Christian University, 4 from Harding University, 4 of us from Rochester College and then our 2 fearless leaders, Larry and Danny. Our last Sunday at Jinja Church of Christ I've been putting off writing this blog because I don't feel as though I have words to adequately describe and explain my journey to Uganda without sharing every big and little thing that we did. I will do my best to keep this short but thorough. Kibo Group is a non-profit ministry that works on sustainable development in villages in East Africa. Kibo has 4 projects that they work on with the villages: Water Source Community Lead Total Sanitation (CLTS) Women's Empowerment  Mvule Project  Before going to Uganda, I knew about the projects Kibo did and I thought they were really cool. But let me tell you, the work Kibo is doing is far far more than