Concluding 13 years at ICS: Embracing the Future with Confidence and Hope

By Natalie Russell, ICS senior

 Wise words from Billy Joel have been ringing in my ears as the countdown to graduation has begun, “slow down you crazy child… Vienna waits for you.” 

As the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer every day, the real challenge is to not rush the next few months-to not take for granted the English classes when we read outloud, the study sessions, the walk up the hill from the parking lot in the early morning, the smiling face at the top of the stairs, the laughs shared in the middle of class, or the little moments with the precious people who may not always be a part of my life. There is nothing I can do to stop the clock from ticking, so I have chosen instead to live in the moment and to not let the days pass without adequate enjoyment. The reality is that a year from now -even six months from now- things will look very different from the present. This is a very intimidating reality.

It has been a very strange feeling not being able to picture where I’m going to be next year. For the past thirteen years of my life I’ve been able to think, next year I’ll be in Miss Potter’s room or even, next year I’ll be upstairs or, next year I’ll have another locker down the hall. This time around though, I don’t know what life will look like next year. Who will my professors be? Who will my classmates be? Who will I sit next to at lunch? What will my commute from class to class look like? These questions have always been answered for me, but not anymore. In this realm of the unknown, there is a lack of security which leads to a lot of uncertainty, but there is also a sense of excitement of all the things that my life could be.

ICS has given me a strong foundation in Christ and has prepared me to be a disciple in the world. I may not know what my future holds, but I do know the One who holds it, this I know for certain. Not only that, but I know that He who holds it has a specific plan for me: a prosperous plan, a plan of hope and not of harm (Jeremiah 29:11). Truthfully, this plan is without a doubt better than any one that I could have come up with on my own.

Natalie graduates from ICS this May and will go on to pursue a degree at Southern Utah University. She hopes to be an English teacher one day. The ICS community has enjoyed pouring into her these past 13 years and is excited to see what God has in store for her.