Space to Grow

Karina Lima knows that she made the right choice in coming to Southwestern.

When a Christian knows he or she is being led by God, that person can’t go against His will and what He has planned for them. This was the case of Karina Lima, a junior English and art major at Southwestern Adventist University.

“God has a good sense of humor,” says Lima. “My parents are in New York and I wanted to attend a university closer to home. So I applied to four different universities. I included Southwestern as one of them because my grandma had always wanted me to go to an Adventist university. I waited, but I wasn’t getting any acceptance letters back from the universities. I prayed and told God that the first university to send me a letter I would see as the one He wanted me to attend. Sure enough, it was Southwestern.”

Lima knows that she has made the right choice in coming to Southwestern, because her spiritual life has gotten stronger every day, thanks to the people around her.

“Southwestern changed me,” says Lima. “In my teen years I was baptized and thought that I knew God, but I truly didn’t know Him until I arrived here. My friends always keep me motivated to search for God and know Him better. Even my bosses that I work for here have been a positive experience. Seeing that makes me want to get to know God even more.”

This semester, Lima is serving as social vice president for the student association, which puts a lot of responsibility on her.

“When I’m planning an event, I have to think of others rather than myself,” says Lima. “We try to do events that are both fun and spiritual. Finding balance in our events is a difficult task.”

Having multiple jobs on campus can be stressful and it can be hard finding time during the day to do homework or study for tests. Lima has devised a plan to help her prioritize what she needs to do.

“I keep a schedule of each of my classes for each semester,” says Lima. “I have a template that I have used throughout my college life, so I just plug in my new classes and shift my times around. And for incoming students, my suggestion is to put everything in God’s hands. He is a miracle worker and will help you manage your time.”

Lima has really enjoyed her classes, especially her art classes and teachers, because they both pushed her and helped her become a better artist.

“Joy Chadwick, my ceramics teacher, and Marcela Wall, my painting teacher, really helped me improve a lot,” says Lima. “Mrs. Chadwick really pushed me beyond what I thought I could do and challenged me to express myself in different ways. Mrs. Wall gave me the space I needed to see what I wanted to draw and when I turned in a cartoon effect drawing, she liked it, but gave me some pointers on how to do it better, which really helped me become better at it.

She not only enjoys her classes but she also enjoys the overall campus atmosphere.

“Southwestern is a big family,” says Lima. “It really is a different environment. You can be walking to class and if people see that you’re sad or feeling down, they’ll stop and ask you if you’re doing okay and even pray for you. I knew this girl who didn’t believe in God, but she took one religion class and got baptized. That says a lot about the type of school we are where God is the main focus and positivity and happiness dominate the atmosphere. It’s is a great thing to have in a campus.”

Share this: