Pursued by God: Finding His Love at SEEK 2013
Chelsea Galvin is a senior at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Her faith has been through many ups and downs in college, and she said she hit a low during her junior year while studying abroad in France, without the influence of the Catholic Center and her group of friends. At first, she was able to go to Mass every Sunday and kept practicing her faith, but halfway through the year she was caught up in the lifestyle enjoyed by her new group of friends. “I was definitely influenced by peer pressure” said Galvin. When she returned to Vermont for her senior year, she said, “It was a hard adjustment coming from the lifestyle I was living, back to a more Catholic lifestyle.” Galvin had a difficult semester - her grandmother, with whom she was very close and who had been her Confirmation sponsor, passed away in October. Galvin also said she no longer felt connected with many of the students at the Catholic Center. Galvin had heard of SEEK, but did not want to go. She said she did not feel angry with God, but she did not want anything to do with Him, either. Her roommate, a FOCUS Bible study leader, used FOCUS scholarship money and registered Galvin for SEEK 2013 anyway. “I felt really guilty about that,” said Galvin. “I didn’t really have the money but I felt like I took it from someone else that couldn’t go instead.”
One of the biggest things that Chelsea took away from SEEK 2013 was that she finally reached an understanding of God’s infinite love. “He loves me, but do I love Him in return?” she reflected. One of the moments that impacted her the most was after being in adoration for several hours one night, and then getting a group text inviting people to continue doing praise and worship outside of the adoration chapel late into the evening. She said that at first, there were roughly twenty people, but more people kept showing up. She said she was particularly moved by “seeing the joy and love on people’s faces just singing the praise and love of God.” Galvin said that SEEK 2013 truly helped her realize that God has loved her for the entirety of her life, even when she did not feel like she was receiving it. “I always focused on the bad in my life: the hurt, the jealousy, what I didn’t have, why I wasn’t good enough” said Galvin. After all the talks and fellowship at SEEK, she finally realized that “God is always there even when you aren’t seeking Him, He is always there loving you, He is the most constant thing in your life.”
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At the beginning of the conference, Chris Stefanick, the emcee, challenged everyone to make the most of their experience and pay attention to the talks, because some people paid a lot to be there, and some people were there because of the generosity of those who had paid for them. “That really hit me” said Chelsea, and she decided to take conference more seriously.
