Junior Year

So in honor of my junior year coming to a close, I thought I would recap on all of God's blessings through this year. Looking back, it is really amazing on how well this year really did turn out. Background - from second semester freshmen all the way through sophomore year, I had 3 close friends I spent time with. One of them was my roommate sophomore year. I learned throughout the course of the year that my roommate would not be returning to ABC, one friend was going to Israel and the other spent the past year in Israel. My third friend would be busy with her senior year, and due to some of my own misunderstandings, there was a regrettable rift between us.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to returning to school this year. I didn't know who my roommate would be, what friends I would have, and there were many classes I was dreading. Several people wished me blessings and prayed I would have the best year ever, but I was not convinced that was even a possibility. This is of course, a sad testimony for a child of God, for with Him all things are possible. This has probably been my best year of college ever.

Now I do have one disclaimer, I did miss having my 3 friends here, and I have some wonderful memories with them that cannot be replaced, but in all other areas, junior year has been the bomb! It is so amazing to see God's hand in every single detail. It was truly a blessing to experience His awesome power these past 2 semesters.

First, the roommate situation had me terrified. I had no idea what to expect and I had many similar feelings I experienced coming to freshmen year. It turned out I knew my roommate ahead of time, well at least who she was. I still had some reservations as she seemed much more mature than myself. Well let me tell you what, do not judge a book by its cover. Bethanna has been such a blessing. She is also in elementary education, and she had the rare opportunity to stay in the dorm during student teaching. I learned so much from her this year, and I feel like I have gained a friend. God worked it out so nicely, and we have told each other so many times. I am so thankful for my wonderful roomie and I shall miss her next year.

That brings me to the issue of next year's roommate, Melanie. She is my friend who spent the year in Israel. Yes, an ocean and time zone separated us, but in God's sovereignty, it brought us closer together. Even though Melanie was not physically present during the hard times, I would send her e-mails about my day and it made me feel better, She always knew what to say, and it was amazing to hear about her own experiences in Israel. We are both excited about rooming together next year, and learning more about our God. He used this to teach both of us so much. I was also able to mend a broken friendship. Well I didn't do the mending, God did. My roomie from last year has also been a blessing. Through phone calls and getting together over breaks, the Lord has blessed me through another friendship.

Classes this year have been amazing. I have really enjoyed my teaching method classes. The observations, lesson plans and projects are sometimes overwhelming, but I have learned so much through them. I am starting to experience a little anxiety about next year's student teaching, but I really do love it. The Lord has also given me a peace this year that kept me from getting to stressed out. I also have developed many new friendships this year that have proved a blessing.

I have also learned many life lessons about forgiveness, letting go of the past and giving God control. There are so many more things I could share about this wonderful school year, but I pray this is testimony enough. God is so great and without Him, I am nothing. I do not need things to go my way because His ways are better than mine. What an awesome God we serve!

The Weed

I really like the song "Rocks in Your Shoes" by Emily West. The line that gets me every time goes something like this..."bitter's like a weed, if you let it grow, it's going to choke you up somewhere down the road, to get where your going there's only one thing to do, you gotta learn to walk with rocks in your shoes."

How true this is. So often I find myself harboring bitter resentments and ideas towards different people and things. When I finally let go, I enjoy life so much more. It is never any fun when bitterness takes control. All it does is make me miserable. It is not always easy to forgive and forget, but it can be so worth it. There are some people and some things that I can never change. One thing I must remember about people is that God loves them. He have them their personality and He gave me mine. I must learn to deal with that. All bitterness is going to do is choke me up and cause me to sin.

So many Christians get caught up in their own agendas. When we don't get our way, we pout and cause more problems. This week in chapel, I heard some messages on James 3. The tongue can cause so much damage and as Christians, we must control it. So next time, take a walk with rocks in your shoes. Sometimes it is hard to suck it up, but throwing the rocks back at people will not make anything better.

Remember, "you can get a little down or get a little mad, but when there is stones in the road, there is only one thing to do, you gotta learn to walk with rocks in your shoes!"

A Safe Ship

So it has been a while since I last posted, partly because my site was blocked for a little while. No matter, I sent in a site review request, and here I am. Another reason is sometimes it takes a while to decide what to write on here. However, I have been contemplating something of late.

First of all, let me start out by saying that I had an awesome spring break while I was home at the beginning of March. It is always good to see family and friends. I also got an exciting opportunity to observe and teach in my mom's kindergarten classroom. I loved every minute of it. Another place I love to be is my home church. My church family is amazing and once again I received a college care package to return to school with.

In this box, I received a nice little booklet like thing called "God's Promises for a Woman's Heart." I enjoy reading the different Bible verses and quotes as I flip it over each day. One in particular has stuck with me. A quote from John A. Shedd which reads, "A ship in harbor is safe...but that is not what ships are for." The Bible verse to go along with it was 2 Chronicles 20:15, "Do not be afraid....for the battle is not yours, but God's."

What an excellent reminder for this stage in life. How easy it becomes to make the safe choice and stay put. I will soon be a senior in college and will face life decisions. I could always go back home, and beg and plead to stay with my parents and work whatever job I can, or I can be open to other possibilities. Perhaps God's will for my life is to return home and work a job, and this would be fine for me....but maybe He has other plans.

Whatever the case may be, I know the Lord is on my side. I do not want to be the ship who sits idly in the harbor until time passes me into a useless vessel, I want to be a fierce vessel on the sea that accomplishes the missions I was destined for. Sure, there may be storms, but God will sustain. Who is to say that trouble will not come across the harbor anyway.

I am not completely ready to make any major life decisions at this moment, but when the time comes, I pray that I will be ready to leave the harbor. After all, the battle is God's, so why worry! :)

Problem Solving

For quite sometime now, I have been trying to live a stress free life. Obviously stressful things occur quite frequently, but my goal is to not let it get to me. I got to the point where I was tired of anxiety and stress. It typically was silly, because once I accomplished my mission, I realized it was not so bad to begin with. Now with prayer, strength from the Lord, and remembering past lessons, I do a fairly decent job of remaining calm. I still have my moments, but God has really helped me in these efforts.

Well today a problem came up. It was the kind of problem where I was between a rock and a hard place. Every solution I was coming up with seemed to have another problem attached to it. I must admit instead of asking for God's help, I teared up. I will finish my tale, but to help me along, I found some quotes.

Mary Kay Ash said, "For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

I could not agree more. I am a firm believer in where there is a will there is a way. My mind started sifting through compromises I could make to satisfy all sides in my situation.

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Got a problem? Do what you can where you are but with what you got."

Of course one BIG thing I have is God on my side, but as my mind worked on the problem, I began to think that there was something I could do, without setting myself up or the other party for further stress and worry. Then BAM it came to me. A simple solution, where everyone wins including some who were not involved to begin with. Now this solution will require a little extra time and energy on my part, but God has me here in this place. Solutions to our problems may bring up some inconvenience, but if we force fight for our way, others will be inconvenienced. The other party came and spoke to me in love and has always been a big help to me. That person has troubles of their own, so the least I could to was find a way to solve their immediate problem, before thinking of myself.

I don't say all this to brag on myself. I shed some tears of this and thought selfishly at first. Then I remembered how annoyed I get when others force their problems on others selfishly. I see it a lot. My fear was that if I did not seek for a compromise or something of that sort, I would become hypocritical.

Henry Ford sums it up quite well, "Most people spend more time and energy making problems than trying to solve them."

In order to solve your problems, you may have to give up of yourself. In the end it will be well worth it. God can use it to stretch you, and you will save yourself a lot of heartache. Of course not every solution will be easy to come by every time. So in these cases remember....

Psalm 121:2, "My hope cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth."

As a fairly new lover of math, yay for problem solving!

Rain is a Good Thing!

Many people get depressed by rainy days, but in them I find pleasure. To me it is God's way of providing rest. You have to slow down, take it easy, but not stop carrying out His purposes all together.

Today I took in the cool rainy air through my window, I listened to soothing music, I drank tea. For lunch I had comfort food - tomato soup and grilled cheese. Today has been wonderful.

Maybe getting soaked walking to classes is a little less enjoyable, but I cannot help but love it overall. There is nothing like a good walk in the rain.

Rain is a good thing (and not for all the reasons that Luke Bryant sang about ;-).)

Revelation 21:5 says, "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." God does make all things new. As the spring rain comes, the ugly brown and signs of death disappear from winter's harsh elements and spring brings new life. How much brighter does the sun shine after it comes out of hiding. Rain is indeed a good thing.

Even the rain storms of life can beautiful. Just as you enjoy the sun after rainy days, you can enjoy life's blessings more when you appreciate where you came from. Rain is a great thing!

Today it is raining and my heart is thankful.

Simply Trusting

This year at college I have heard a lot about Christians and trials. I have heard it before, but it has really gotten to me this year. I had a feeling I would be facing a trial sooner or later, but in the meantime I carried on with life.

The time has come for a trial in life. Without going into much detail, this particular trial brought me to tears when I first heard about it. As I was crying about my problem, I realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do except pray. The amazing thing is that prayer is the best thing to do. Why should I carry this burden? God knew a long time ago I would be going through this and He already knows the resolution. In fact, only 3 days after the situation arose, solutions and possibilities have arisen.

I could spend my time worrying and fretting over this, but that would be silly. Sure it is a whole lot easier said than done, but I cannot think of one time when my Heavenly Father failed me before. So today I will wear a smile on my face, accomplish what needs to be accomplished, and let God take care of the rest. Besides this tid bit of bad news, I had a lovely weekend, so I will praise God for it all. He is so good!

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Murmurings and Disputings

Philippians 2:14 - "Do all things without murmurings and disputings."

The more I ponder the different issues I see in life, the more I realize how selfish I as a human being can be. This past school year I have really tried to practice self-control and stop complaining. This is not something that comes easy to be as I am a selfish human being who wants things my way and life to be easy. Of course, it does not work that way.

I really hate to other people complain about certain things. Sadly, the things I hate to hear complaints about tend to be the things that I myself complain about. Did I mention how much I cannot stand hypocrisy. This always makes me think of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:5, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye."

You see, I can get all fired up about others who complain, but what about myself? Until I can control my own thoughts and tongue, I cannot talk about anyone else. I realized that even when I do vocalize my complaints, the thoughts running through my head are just as bad. When you consider I am a poor college student, I really am not bad off. I have been given so much, yet it never seems to be enough. I need to stop complaining and be grateful for what I have. Everything could always be so much worse.

I was inspired to write this post after seeing an event some friends were having at their college. They are having a no food complaints day at school. I know here at my college that a lot of us complain about our food choices. I always hate when people do this in front of the cooks, but the other college made a good point - we could really be fed poison and rotting vegetables, but we are not. So even if I do not vocalize my complaints in front of the cooks, my heart attitude is not right. I may be paying a lot of money for it, but if I was being fed top class gourmet food, it would be a lot more money. Anyway, this is just one example of my complaining issues yet to be conquered. It will be a constant battle, but I hope to be more grateful as well as work on my own attitude rather than complaining about others. What a vicious circle! God is always good through it all, and my heart is happy.