Being A Christian in a Non-Christian Atmosphere

Growing up in a small town, in the south, that barely reaches 5,000 people, I guess you could say you tend to unintentionally block out the real world . You grow up in your small church, go to school with the same people for 12 years, and have the same activities each year that everyone in your community goes to. Let me backup and explain the phrase “ unintentionally block out the real world”. Your whole life you are surrounded by people who share the same, if not close to, the same beliefs as you. All of your parents are friends and there aren’t many people that are a different race or culture than you. You begin to forget there is a world outside those 5,000 people. See, I began to get curious and venture out, and go through my (what they call) “raised sheltered rebel stage”. I wanted to leave, I didn’t like my parents during this time, all because they tried to discipline me. Just typical teenage actions I guess you could say. This stage didn’t last for long and I didn’t get too far, I have praying parents I can thank for that. I was raised to recognize my convictions and I usually couldn't do much without the Holy Spirit convicting me. Like the bible says in Proverbs 22:6, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” I thank my parents for raising me like this, even though I went through a time where I was angry at them for not being able to do the “normal” things my friends were doing. I am here to tell you now, if you are in middle school or high school, even early college, I cannot thank God enough for my parents because of that very reason. Now, as I have moved out and grown up I don’t even want to do the worldly things that I once was so eager to do. What the Bible says in proverbs is the reason I did not stray too far. Now as I got older and just recently moved to the city it was a MAJOR change. UAB was somewhere I wanted to go to try out the “city life” and “get out of my town”, but I didn't realize just how different it was going to be. Now, other than the silly reasons I wanted to come here, I do know that God put me here for a reason. The weeks leading up to my move I didn't understand why I was going. I had just made Godly friends, met a God fearing man, and everything was just going how I liked it. But the key word here is “I”. God had different plans. He started showing me things, “Tristan, you are going through a different season.” but still, I thought to myself, “God, there are no Christians around me, this isn't a christian environment. There are all these clubs, religions, ways of life that I don't believe in. How can I be one person and shine your light in a school that has THREE times the amount of people than my whole town does.” That is when he stopped me. He began to show me something, what asset would I be in Glencoe, Alabama.I am surrounded by my christian family and friends, who is there to minister to? Then I remembered what my mom has always said: If you can go your whole life and tell one person about the word of God, then that is all that matters. She also instilled something in me that I couldn't get out of my head in this season in my life. Which was, “Tristan, you can't pray to God and give it to him and then doubt it. You have to truly give every bit of the problem to him.” (See even in college I still hear my moms wise words in my head) So that is what I started to do. I started to tell God, “Okay, I know you have me here, i'm fully ready for what you have for me.” This is when he started showing me things. My roommates wanted us to go to church together, we met a friend who works at a church here and invited us in, I met Christians in my classes, I heard a girl go down the hall blaring worship music. See, if you honor God, he will begin to move more in your life. I have been here for around two months now and I would be lying if I said I wasn't still struggling. We are only human, but he gives me peace everyday and continues to open doors, and as my boyfriend always tells me, you just have to have your spiritual eyes open to see them.