Saturday, March 31, 2012

An update on my life. . . .

It's been nuts.

The end.

No really. There isn't much more I can say about it.

Actually, there is. God has been faithful through it all. And this week, more than any, I have felt His presence and seen Him work in everything. God has worked so much stuff out this week, I was just (and still am) amazed.
At the beginning of this week, I had 3 tests, 3 papers, a teaching lesson, and a massively huge project (as in I spent over 60 hours on it). I got sick on Monday (nasty cold, etc.) I had the normal everyday classes and homework. And I was trying to figure out schedules because I am planning to sit out a semester. (which I will explain later on).
God moved one of my tests to next week, turned one into a take home project that isn't due until next week, moved the teaching lesson and one of the papers, and the other test isn't due until today (Saturday) at noon. The massive project got finished with 10 hours to spare (!!!), and through it all, I watched God give me time to finish everything else I had to. I have finished (finally) everything that was due this week. Everything got turned in on time, my 2 lessons that I teach are coming together, and I have already started studying for my English test. Isn't God awesome??
Then there was the whole business of sitting out a  semester. I have told some of you (my friends) what is going on, but basically I am sitting out spring semester of next year (junior year) to earn some money to come back to school. I want to graduate on time, May 2014. Which basically means squeezing 8 semesters of ED classes into 7 semesters. Which is just another proof that I am crazy and insane. But thankfully my God isn't. He is in control, and I really needed his help to work all this out. My brother is coming next semester, and I really wanted to be here for his semester (William, if you are reading this, it isn't because I think you can't do it on your own, it's just more fun with an upperclassman :D ). Plus, I was told that I may have the opportunity to go on the Spring drama team with BJU to go out West :) which would be totally awesome. So I have to sit out Spring 2013. Unfortunately, Ed classes are only offered certain semesters, so that semester has 2 classes that I need. I was able (with the help of the Dean of Ed), to change one class, and I found the other class online. It's all working out.
Finally.
Everything is going the way I need it to.

Wait. Let me restate that. Everything is going the way I want it to. Even if it didn't work out the way I want it to, it would still work the way I need it to. Because God is in control. So whatever He wants to happen will, and it will be exactly what I need. Because He is awesome. So from here on out, it's going to be nuts. So, if I seem a bit busy, I probably am. If my social life completely dies, it's because I am nutty busy. If the only time I see you is to study with you, be grateful you are a fellow ED major. I don't ever see my other friends. But God is amazing. And He is going to work it all out.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Every day is a bad day?!?!?!

"Forever alone"
Tired of eating by myself--i think I'll just stay in my room forever. No one will miss me."
"How long, oh Lord, wilt thou forget me?"

The same person posted all three of those statuses, and many more like it. I finally unfriended her because I was tired of her depressed, woe-is-me attitude. You have friends like this. We all do. 

I am, by nature, a very hyper, cheerful, smily-type of person. To be honest, I sometimes hide what I'm really feeling behind a smiling mask. Which isn't right either. But, people that are always unhappy, as ironic as it may seem, depress me. 

Which brings me to the point of this post (which, I realize has been way to long since the last one--hey! It's been busy). How can one be a Christian and constantly be having a bad day? What happened to "the joy of the Lord is my strength"and "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice?"  I understand having rough days--I have them too (it's called migraines, bad test scores, long work shifts, and massive projects). But a rough day doesn't mean a bad day. Never. 

Jesus had rough days too. Having your countrymen mock you, the religious leaders scorn you, and your family reject you? That's not my idea of a good vacation. Just because He had a rough day didn't mean he was depressed. As Marilla says in the movie, Anne of Green Gables,  "to despair is to turn your back on God." When we think, "this day can't get any worse", we are not trusting in God. Even when the day is not going the way you planned, you can still choose to praise God. He allowed the circumstances to happen. You know what verse I'm going to use. . . 

Romans 8:28--"We KNOW that all things work together for good to them that are called according to His purpose>." We were talking about this in Sunday School. That is a really easy verse to quote when someone else is having a bad day or something tough is going on. Not to easy to quote to yourself when your world is falling apart (and believe me--I've been there). When we want a verse of encouragement, we want to hear "I'll never leave or forsake you". In our head, we know that God is working everything together for good. It's harder to believe when something is bad. It doesn't say that everything IS good--but that God will take the bad and make something good come out of it. 

I understand! It's hard when everything is falling apart to remember and tell yourself that God is using this in your life to make you better. Keep trusting! He has never broken a promise, and you aren't going to be the first person that God breaks a promise to. That, I can guarantee.