I love the start of a new semester... it just shouts of countless opportunities for fun and growth and new friends and new knowledge. My bags are halfway packed and tomorrow I head back to UM for a semester that is guaranteed to be hard, but I'm not dreading it. On the contrary, I'm kind of excited. These past few weeks God has been teaching me a lot about what it means to walk and live in JOY. Walking in the joy of the Lord means forsaking fear and worry. It means wholehearted trust in the love of my Savior. Living in this type of freedom is exhilarating and astounding... and I'm ready to put the rubber to the road. I've learned how to live it out in the relatively relaxing environment of Christmas break at home, but now I get to apply what I've learned to the messy and the hard- the life of a sophomore in college, drowning in pre-nursing classes and two jobs, an extroverted personality with no time for a social life, saving up for a trip to Italy, trying to prepare heart and body for camp this summer, and learning that grades don't define her only Jesus does- but oh what a wonderful journey it is! Each day I see God's hand of grace and rejoice that YES! His mercies are new every morning! He is faithful even when I am faithless, because He cannot change His holiness. He walks with me and teaches me to count everything joy, because He is using it to shape me into the woman He wants me to be, and I am slowly learning to see through His eyes. I recently read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. She shares her journey of learning to find joy in the everyday and mundane... and it is a beautiful but very REAL journey. I could connect with her throughout the book and now my prayer is that eucharisteo defines my every waking moment. Passion was amazing, and I am so grateful that I was able to go and that God showed up in the huge way that He did. However, I think the majority of the lessons I learned that week are for me to hide in my heart for now, and ponder quietly as I find the ways my life needs to change in order to better reflect His glory.
Until next time, much love!
