‘We are Judson girls’: Finishing with ‘good grace’
By Mary Amelia Taylor
Judson College
The year 2020 has been an unexpected year, but as they have many times before in their college’s history, Judson College students have adapted with graceful resilience.
The campus moved to online instruction for the final weeks of the spring 2020 semester as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic reached our region, and Judson students and faculty adapted quickly to finish the semester well.
After the Nov. 5 announcement that classes would again be moving online as the city of Marion recovers from power outages and water issues in the wake of Hurricane Zeta, Judson students again showed their determination to adapt and finish well.
Judson senior and vice president of the college’s student ambassadors, Molly Grace Register of Oneonta, emailed the student body late that evening, encouraging them with a favorite Judson story from 1947.
“One of the stories ambassadors tell when we give a campus tour is about when Jewett (Hall) burned down (for the second time),” wrote Register. “The senior class president, Carmen Botts, sent a telegram to Dr. Riddle, Judson’s president, which said, ‘Will live in pup tents, if necessary, until a new Jewett is built right where the old one stood.’ I think about that story often, and I have a feeling one day that people will tell stories about our class — about the girls who endured a pandemic and a hurricane, about the girls who loved their school so much they cried each time they had to leave.”
“Remember,” Register charged her sisters, “we are Judson Girls; we are sisters; we are children of God. Everything will work out in the end.”
Referencing Luke 1:37, Register reminded her sisters that “nothing is impossible with God” and that employing the same determination and faith in God shared by generations of “Judson Girls” could carry them through the final weeks of their semester.
Since 1838, Judson College has faithfully continued its mission of Christian higher education for women, steadily persevering through a litany of outside circumstances threatening her “halls of ivy”: wars, economic depressions, fires, attempts to relocate or consolidate with other colleges, natural disasters and global health crises.
God’s faithfulness
The college’s tenacity is both a testament to the faithfulness of God and the resiliency of the Judson community.
“The more things change, the more they often stay the same,” said Judson President W. Mark Tew of the newest challenges facing Judson students.
“Our students have responded amazingly well this year, through first the COVID-19 pandemic and now the aftermath of Hurricane Zeta,” said Tew. “Our faculty and staff have supported our students incredibly well during these unprecedented times, staying committed to providing the exceptional Christian higher education Judson has offered for more than 180 years.
“Our students are disappointed about leaving early, yes, but they will persevere. Judson women always have.”
How to be thankful in hard times
The Bible never ties thankfulness to a certain circumstance or a particular kind or amount of blessing.
Though if you’re like me, that’s not how you think about or live out thankfulness personally.
And the holiday season can be a terrible time for so many. In fact, suicides peak around the holidays.
Maybe it’s a stressful time for you as well. So let’s get basic about thankfulness.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
Ouch … all circumstances. That’s hard to escape.
As it’s so clear a command that doesn’t leave much wiggle room to avoid thankfulness, I want to lay out several ways to be thankful even in hard times.
Here we go.
- Realize God is not done with you yet (Phil. 1:6).
- Death has no power over us in Christ (1 Cor. 15:52–53).
- God knows and satisfies our longing of Him (Matt. 5:6).
- Set your eyes on the things above. You’ll be with Christ soon (Col. 3:1–4).
We have much more ahead of us than we do behind. In other words, most of our existence will be in our eternity.
So why do we let the hard times here and now overcome the overwhelming joy of knowing and being known by Jesus?
Why do we let verbal and even physical persecution diminish the everlasting joy of Christ in us?
What if we stopped and, instead, found daily joy in the God of our salvation?
James Hammack
theropetab.com
“All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
Christian hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” lyrics by Thomas Chisholm (1866–1960), music composed by William M. Runyan (1870–1957)
Our concerns should never overcome our trust with God. If you find yourself on a different path than God’s, turn around and repent. In repentance and rest you will be saved. I’ve experienced brokenness in my life, and God is a much better option.
Retired Rear Adm. Endel Lee
Speaking at University of Mobile on Veterans Day
We all have a biblical mandate to make Scripture a priority in our students’ lives. … The Bible commands us to do so. … If we teach the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, our students will know the difference, too. Students need to know from the beginning that the Bible is holistically consistent in its truth and that it will never mislead them.
Leslie Bennett
Rome, Ga.
Preachers cannot give to others what they themselves do not have. The picture people have of Christ depends less on what we say and more on what people think of us as we say it. Thus, we need to be thick with the Almighty!
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.
Walking through the (Samford) University Center recently, I just couldn’t help overhearing this comment from one student to another: “I knew she was having a bad day, so I just called her and listened for a while.” I don’t know if the person having a bad day was a friend or a mom or a sister or someone else within the student’s circle relationships. Somewhere in the world, a person’s day was made a little better because a Samford student “listened for a while.”
The world is better when we stop to listen.
President Andrew Westmoreland
Samford University
Not only does unstoppable gratitude please the Father, it also cleanses the heart of cynicism and littleness and sends us dancing through the wonders of salvation living.
Bob Adams
Retired pastor
From the Twitterverse
@ronniefloyd
Abortion is not a political issue, but it is an anti-life belief and practice that deconstructs the way a culture and its people think and view everything else in life. The Bible teaches that God creates and values all human life from the womb all the way to death. So should we.
@kferg16
Let me be a childlike follower who is foolish enough to trust God’s wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God. — @myutmost
@edstetzer
Nobody drifts toward evangelism.
@PastorGregC
Struggling with bitterness? Read Psalm 73:21–28 and be reminded that the nearness of God means more than any hurt.
@BelafaeJohnson
“Doctrine without worship is empty. Worship without doctrine leads to ignorance.”
@DrRobertSmithJr
#DoctrinethatDances
@DailyKeller
Prayer is never just an emergency flare or desperate anxious gamble. God’s attention is not based on our performance but parental love.
@trillianewbell
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Unchanging. In a world constantly changing, aren’t we so happy to know this?! Not only the security of it but also the expectation of our actions and what we believe about God. Thankful.
@adamgreenway
“In our society, people have unlimited opinions with limited information.” — Pastor @GreggMatte of @HoustonFirst at @_SBTC #sbtcAM20. #PointToPonder
@revandyfrazier
“You know your attitude, language and actions are influenced heavily by those you spend the most time with, right?” This is something we tell our kids, especially when they exhibit a negative change in behavior. This is what many adults should also keep in mind right now.
@brocraigc
“When God says He will do a thing, there is no power on earth or in perdition that can keep Him from doing that which He has promised to do.” — Dwight L. Moody
@ricklance
“God can use anything, anywhere, at anytime, with anyone for His glory.” — @ronniefloyd
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