11/6/2026 10:27:00 AM | Spiritual Formation
Written by: Carly Miller
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When I first came to Lipscomb, I was hoping for a Christ-centered community, which is something I felt my hometown lacked. I was immediately immersed into a group of people that were on fire for the Lord. I was insanely blessed to come to college with such an amazing group of people through my cross country team. I had the privilege of taking part in a girls bible study within my team. We would meet and go over a book of the bible, one chapter a week. This was a foundational part of my growth at Lipscomb. I was able to partake in such incredible deep conversations with my best friends, wrestling with hard questions and gaining a more profound understanding of Scripture. I became so hungry for the word and grew so much closer to God because of it.
As an athlete, I have had so many wonderful opportunities to grow in my faith. I joined a mission team for athletes my freshman year in Baja Mexico. On that trip, I got to take a week to focus on remaining in God's presence, while uniting with other representations of Christ in another country. This trip meant the absolute world to me, and I now have the opportunity to travel to El Salvador in the winter of my senior year! I am so excited to serve the Kingdom of God in new ways and meet new people that God so loves. Visiting Carter Lawrence Elementary School and Inner City Ministries has also made such a positive impact on my life. It has been so rewarding to play with and pour into children that don't have the greatest situations at home.
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During my sophomore year, I joined a breakout chapel that was led by my coach, Grace, and Cami, who was once on the soccer team. We would meet early in the morning each week at the Well to partake in godly discussions over coffee. It would make my entire week and leave me feeling so filled from our conversations. We talked about the fruits of the spirit the first semester, then had a book club where we read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. My sophomore spring was such a pivotal year in my faith because I was constantly being poured into and focused on resting in the Lord. Not only was I in a spiritual disciplines class, but I was also in that book club that also talked about very similar things; prioritizing Sabbath over business. I began reflecting on how I was filling my time and evaluating the things that actually gave me life. I had always been a very type A person who lived by a to-do list. I learned to slow down and be more intentional with my time, especially when I'm surrounded by others. These opportunities to grow came at the perfect time because I had just come from a season of frustration, and felt spiritually dry. I had subconsciously let cross country and my performance in my sport dictate my worth. I kept comparing myself to how fast I was in high school and was constantly being disappointed in my workouts and races. I had lost my confidence along with the joy and love I used to have with running. I would walk back to my dorm, crying out of frustration sometimes. In between the first and second semester of sophomore year, I realized that I was basically halfway through college and this experience was something I wanted to remember in a positive way. I began to see this sport as something I liked to do, but it wasn't who I was. When I look towards eternity, my times or my place on the team is far from what was actually important. I needed to use my position to glorify God and grow in faith alongside my teammates. When I viewed cross country as something that I chose to do for fun, it actually changed how I performed. If I was right on the money, I had joy. If I wasn't, I had joy. I didn't have joy because life was always good. Instead, I had joy because despite anything that was happening around me, God is always good. Because of my newfound perspective with running, I began to improve in my performance. The mindset really does make a difference. Now in my senior year, I'm feeling even more sentimental and filled with immense gratitude at the opportunity to continue competing at a D1 level, even if I never made the top seven. Every person on this team contributes in countless ways, and I am so happy to have experienced it all with such an incredible group of girls.
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As I begin to close my time at Lipscomb, I can look towards my future career as a history teacher. I started practicum hours my junior year and spent time in seventh grade classrooms. For senior year, I've been teaching in a freshmen classroom. As an extrovert, it has been such a fun experience. On the other hand, the new generation of teenagers have been very difficult to manage. God has been really helping me, though, to have patience and to always be kind, no matter how overwhelmed I could get. I've been learning to view my students as people God loves so much, that He died for every single one of them. God is showing me that I need to look past their behaviors and see them how the Lord sees them. I am so excited to have my own classroom next year and pour into the next generation. Even if I can't directly talk about Jesus in the classroom, I can reflect His character through my words and actions.
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As I look back on these four years, I see God in everything. Even moments that I could not understand or that seemed mundane, God was there. God was in every situation, working everything out for the good. He is always at work. No matter if we feel it or not, He is working. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in its time," and He truly has made every detail of my life beautiful…in His time.
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When I first came to Lipscomb, I was hoping for a Christ-centered community, which is something I felt my hometown lacked. I was immediately immersed into a group of people that were on fire for the Lord. I was insanely blessed to come to college with such an amazing group of people through my cross country team. I had the privilege of taking part in a girls bible study within my team. We would meet and go over a book of the bible, one chapter a week. This was a foundational part of my growth at Lipscomb. I was able to partake in such incredible deep conversations with my best friends, wrestling with hard questions and gaining a more profound understanding of Scripture. I became so hungry for the word and grew so much closer to God because of it.
As an athlete, I have had so many wonderful opportunities to grow in my faith. I joined a mission team for athletes my freshman year in Baja Mexico. On that trip, I got to take a week to focus on remaining in God's presence, while uniting with other representations of Christ in another country. This trip meant the absolute world to me, and I now have the opportunity to travel to El Salvador in the winter of my senior year! I am so excited to serve the Kingdom of God in new ways and meet new people that God so loves. Visiting Carter Lawrence Elementary School and Inner City Ministries has also made such a positive impact on my life. It has been so rewarding to play with and pour into children that don't have the greatest situations at home.
Â
During my sophomore year, I joined a breakout chapel that was led by my coach, Grace, and Cami, who was once on the soccer team. We would meet early in the morning each week at the Well to partake in godly discussions over coffee. It would make my entire week and leave me feeling so filled from our conversations. We talked about the fruits of the spirit the first semester, then had a book club where we read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. My sophomore spring was such a pivotal year in my faith because I was constantly being poured into and focused on resting in the Lord. Not only was I in a spiritual disciplines class, but I was also in that book club that also talked about very similar things; prioritizing Sabbath over business. I began reflecting on how I was filling my time and evaluating the things that actually gave me life. I had always been a very type A person who lived by a to-do list. I learned to slow down and be more intentional with my time, especially when I'm surrounded by others. These opportunities to grow came at the perfect time because I had just come from a season of frustration, and felt spiritually dry. I had subconsciously let cross country and my performance in my sport dictate my worth. I kept comparing myself to how fast I was in high school and was constantly being disappointed in my workouts and races. I had lost my confidence along with the joy and love I used to have with running. I would walk back to my dorm, crying out of frustration sometimes. In between the first and second semester of sophomore year, I realized that I was basically halfway through college and this experience was something I wanted to remember in a positive way. I began to see this sport as something I liked to do, but it wasn't who I was. When I look towards eternity, my times or my place on the team is far from what was actually important. I needed to use my position to glorify God and grow in faith alongside my teammates. When I viewed cross country as something that I chose to do for fun, it actually changed how I performed. If I was right on the money, I had joy. If I wasn't, I had joy. I didn't have joy because life was always good. Instead, I had joy because despite anything that was happening around me, God is always good. Because of my newfound perspective with running, I began to improve in my performance. The mindset really does make a difference. Now in my senior year, I'm feeling even more sentimental and filled with immense gratitude at the opportunity to continue competing at a D1 level, even if I never made the top seven. Every person on this team contributes in countless ways, and I am so happy to have experienced it all with such an incredible group of girls.
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As I begin to close my time at Lipscomb, I can look towards my future career as a history teacher. I started practicum hours my junior year and spent time in seventh grade classrooms. For senior year, I've been teaching in a freshmen classroom. As an extrovert, it has been such a fun experience. On the other hand, the new generation of teenagers have been very difficult to manage. God has been really helping me, though, to have patience and to always be kind, no matter how overwhelmed I could get. I've been learning to view my students as people God loves so much, that He died for every single one of them. God is showing me that I need to look past their behaviors and see them how the Lord sees them. I am so excited to have my own classroom next year and pour into the next generation. Even if I can't directly talk about Jesus in the classroom, I can reflect His character through my words and actions.
Â
As I look back on these four years, I see God in everything. Even moments that I could not understand or that seemed mundane, God was there. God was in every situation, working everything out for the good. He is always at work. No matter if we feel it or not, He is working. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in its time," and He truly has made every detail of my life beautiful…in His time.
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Saturday, October 31
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Saturday, October 24
