Joy here and yes…that is me at my high school graduation. It was years and years ago, but it was still an amazing day!

Remember that feeling that you were suddenly entering the “real” world? Graduation day is really the first day of the rest of your life. I thought I knew it all, but I knew very little. My best friend works with high school seniors and asked me to write down advice that I wish I’d been told when I graduated from high school. This was much harder to do than I thought. Life has tossed me around a bit the last few years and I’ve realized a lot of hard things. So I wrote down this advice for the graduating class of 2014:

“You think the hardest moments in life are behind you, but they aren’t. Extremely hard days are still ahead, but with God at the center of your life you can face them. When life frustrates you, disappoints you, and hurts you (because it will), look for the lessons to be learned and move on! Know that God’s dreams for you will probably be different and much bigger than your own. Grow from the struggles and look to God to understand it all, because He brings unexpected beauty from the pain.” 

What do you wish you would have been told when you graduated from high school?