Studying

Guess what I am doing right now? I am sitting in my school's library, putting off studying for another few more minutes. This has definitely been crunch week, with a test yesterday and a test tomorrow and a test on Friday. Finally, on Friday, I will be able to breathe easy! Oh, wait, never mind...I have a paper to write that weekend that's due on Tuesday! And then another test on Thursday...and two papers the following week. Yuck. When is Christmas break again?

With all these tests, school work, relationships, and just general "life," things can get pretty stressful. Sometimes hard, hurtful, and just overall discouraging. And I realized that life itself is our biggest test. It's not about whether or not we will have hard times or be asked to sacrifice for something--Someone--bigger than ourselves; it's about when we will have to, and how we handle it. I admit that I don't always handle it so well. I get stressed easily; I let things get to me way more than I should. So I don't always handle things well; sometimes I even flat-out fail. But you know what? Life is about the only test that you can fail over and over again, and still get a chance to keep trying. It's not about whether or not you fail. It's about whether or not you pick yourself back up and keep going. Life is a test...but we can "do all things through Christ" who strengthens us. And the best way to study for this test of life doesn't involve hours of sitting in the library, memorizing facts, reading, analyzing, and memorizing more. It simply requires sitting in the presence of God. It requires placing our burdens at his feet, admitting that we can't make it through this test on our own. And the great thing is that we don't have to. God wants us to ace the test of life. He wants us to excel, to love, to laugh, to serve, to radically change this world for him. Because, you see, the test of life is hard...but it can also be more exhilirating than any other test you'll ever take. So let's don't get discouraged and give up. Let's take this test and blow it out of the water. And when I get to heaven, the only final grade I hope to hear is "Well done, good and faithful service."

Anyways, enough procrastinating. I'm going back to studying.

A whirlwind world

Hey everyone! Wow, I'm impressed if there are still some of you checking back here every now and then...I can't believe I haven't written in so long! For those of you who still faithfully try to keep up with me, know how much I appreciate it!

Life has been a whirlwind lately: classes are busy, life's just busy in general. God's been teaching me so much lately. Not all of it has been easy to learn--in fact, most has been downright hard--but it's worth it, somehow. Right now I'm learning what it really means to be loved by God. Sometimes I think I've gotten so focused on serving God and becoming a person God would be more pleased with, that I've lost sight of what a relationship with Him is all about: relating. Loving Him and being loved by Him is what it all boils down to. So right now I'm trying to get to know God better, to know Him in a new way. He's been so good and gracious; he truly is my Rock, the Friend I would be lost without.

Not much to say that's new in my life. Homecoming is this weekend, and I'll get to see my grandparents and another dear friend of our family's, as well as a girl I went to school with overseas, so I am really excited! And then the following weekend is Fall Break, and I may even get to see my mom then...YAY! I promise I will try to be better at updating on here, so thanks for hanging in there with me!

Here's a quote that I thought was really cool:

I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather to have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.
--Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz

May our hearts truly engage God this week.