Open Letter From Senior, Erin Colley

General

4/20/2020

"Thank you to everyone who has made my time at Westminster so special. You have all made me who I am today and prepared me to live a life glorifying to His name."

To My Westminster Family:

If you know me, you know I never run out of things to say, so limiting myself to one letter is going to be quite challenging, but I will give it a shot. First of all, thank you. Thank you to everyone who has made my time at Westminster so special. You have all made me who I am today and prepared me to live a life glorifying to His name. After 15 years of so many amazing people pouring into my life daily, I feel more blessed than I ever have and will never be able to adequately thank you all.

These past couple months have been full of chaos, unknowns, and frankly, many disappointments, but as a family of faith, I have full confidence that we all believe God is doing great things through this. I have already learned so much through this time. One being what it truly means to desire God's will: to fully submit and surrender your life to Him. I have had to challenge myself to be at peace with what God's will is for me, even when it's not what I had planned. I challenge you to fully trust the will of God and surrender your whole heart to Him.

I'm a firm believer that my outlook and attitude will make or break any of my experiences in life so I always try to keep a positive view on things! Find a better outlook in this situation and stay positive. For me, that has been remembering that regardless of what feels out of my control, I have the unwavering hope of Christ! The things of this world are all temporary, but the hope of our Savior is forever.

To the Class of 2021:

Well, didn't y'all just luck out on this one? You missed the pandemic by one year! I challenge you to live every day like it's your last and be present in every moment. Love your classmates like it's the last day that you'll ever be able to love them and take in every single moment of high school that you have left. Be grateful for every aspect of it, the ups and the downs because I would give anything for one more day.

To My Fellow Seniors:

We have had many things abruptly taken from us that we thought were guarantees. It was discouraging to find these things out, but I challenge you to find a new perspective. This is only one chapter of our lives which is equipping us to do so many greater things in the years to come. Though we do not know why God did not want us to have a senior year as most people experience and I pray that you find peace in that knowing it is all God's will. There are so many things I could say to all of you because we have become one family over all the years we have spent together. Our chapter together ended sooner than expected, but this isn't where we end. We have created a bond through this that no other class will ever have and we will always be a part of each other's lives. I'm going to miss seeing all of you every day, but no matter how far we go, Westminster will always be where it began for us and we will always have each other. This is just the beginning and we are all going on to do amazing things now. Thank you for giving me the best family. I love you, Class of 2020. We did it!

Job 1:21 "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

With love,

Erin Colley