It’s pretty incredible to think about how God works in our lives, stringing events together and instilling passions in our hearts before we even know His intent. My freshman year at Marquette University, I walked around Orientation Fest, eager to explore the many student organizations, club teams and volunteer opportunities. However, I ended up walking back to my dorm afterwards with a single thought: “There is nothing here for me.” I was discouraged because I was very involved in high school and wanted to be a leader at Marquette as well. But, nothing stood out to me as I walked past the many rows of tables set up on the lawn.
I just completed my sophomore year and can confidently say I have found my place and purpose at Marquette, and am very happy. One area I’ve felt a particularly strong calling towards is the pro-life movement. I grew up in a pro-life household, but it wasn’t until my second year at Marquette that I became actively involved in the pro-life movement. I know without a doubt that the Holy Spirit has been instrumental in guiding my heart and leading me to courageously answer the call to become an advocate for the unborn.
As I reflect back on the events, encounters, and emotions experienced during my sophomore year, I now see how God’s hand was in everything. He was leading me along this path, and I didn’t even realize what He was doing. I attended Orientation Fest again at the start of my sophomore year. I remember walking up to Marquette for Life’s table, putting my name on the email list and taking a Precious Feet pin for my backpack. I wanted to start attending the meetings, but I was also a new Resident Assistant. Fearful that joining another organization would be too much of a time commitment, I put it on the back burner and eventually forgot about it. A few months into the school year, a girl I vaguely knew who was in Marquette for Life came up to me and told
me I should start attending the meetings. I wanted to after that encounter, but I still didn’t. I’m not sure why. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but nonetheless, more Monday nights passed and I still hadn’t made it to a meeting. In October, two other Resident Assistants on my staff decided they wanted to go on the March for Life in January. I had never gone before, but they encouraged me to go as well. I was very interested. I realized that if I could schedule my labs for the next semester in such a way that I wouldn’t have to miss them for the trip to D.C., I would surely be able to go. Registering for my classes worked out perfectly, so I went ahead and signed up to go on the March. When asked about my expectations for the trip at one of the informational meetings, I recall saying that I didn’t know what to expect and was open to whatever God had in store for me.
And wow, I really had no idea what He had planned for me.
To say that the March for Life was an amazing experience is an understatement. Words cannot accurately convey the magnitude this three-day trip has had on every day of my life since then. While in D.C., the Lord instilled this strong desire in me to be a voice for the unborn. I returned to Marquette knowing full well that I could never go back to being uninvolved with the pro-life movement. I attended every Marquette for Life meeting that followed. I volunteered to help at events. I started reading pro-life books, and my social media slowly became filled with pro-life news and messages. As the spring semester progressed, there was some talk about upcoming e-board elections. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking I’d like to possibly be a leader someday for Marquette for Life. Since I was still a new member, I pushed the thoughts away for the time being. However, God had other plans for me. The president of Marquette for Life texted me one day wanting to meet with me and discuss e-board roles. I was surprised she wanted to talk to me about this since I hadn’t been involved with the organization for very long. She further surprised me when she suggested that I consider running for president for the 2018-2019 academic year, since the current vice president would be
graduating early and would only be able to be the president for the first semester. The thought of holding this position filled me with both excitement and fear, but I realized that this was what God had been preparing me for all year.
My hope for this upcoming school year as Marquette for Life’s president is to increase our presence on campus by reaching more students through events, speakers and tabling. I also hope to expand our opportunities for outreach at pregnancy centers.
God has abundantly blessed me so far in my time at Marquette with many opportunities to be a leader and serve others. It took me a while to find my place here, but God has been with me through every high and low. I am committed to spreading awareness, truth and love to people on and off campus this year, serving women and babies, and celebrating the beautiful, irreplaceable gift of life.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
-Kaela Beugnet