ABSTRACT
The fourth theme, faith, proved to serve as a stabilizing force for students when they faced adversity, whether adversity included difficulty with course work, schedule complications, or effects of racialization. This should come as no surprise, given that all of the ADCPs were faith-based institutions. More specifically, each school was broadly speaking within the Evangelical spectrum. Because these students had chosen faith-based schools over state or nonreligious private institutions, one would expect spirituality to be included in the reported phenomena of the participants. Furthermore, others have noted the importance of spirituality in terms of resilience in higher education (Herndon 2003; Cox 2009; Tinner 2013). To this point, Arnold (2014) summarized the reliance on spirituality for female, adult principals in terms of a battle metaphor. She wrote,
The Bible is filled with battle and warfare metaphor. As seen in different parts of the spiritual narratives of the participants, a great part of their lives is correlated to the spiritual battle they see as occurring in their lives. . . . The principals consider themselves as co-warriors with the triune God to fulfill a calling.
