Well, this is my first post on this new blog. I have to say I'm pretty excited for it! I haven't been writing in quite a while, and I miss it. I'm finding that I enjoy typing as I write a lot more than I used to...Maybe because I type better now than I used to. I journal quite a bit and I enjoy writing with an actual pen and paper as well. But I enjoy typing too. My guess is that most people these days probably "write" through a computer and other devices now more than with an actual pen and paper anyways.
I decided I wanted to start a new blog because the Lord is doing a lot these days, and I want to get it all out more frequently and be able to process things better, as well as share what He is doing in my life. There's something about telling your story and what you're experiencing, as well as listening and reading about other's lives that brings so much joy. I love it. When I get to read or hear about what God is doing in others' lives it makes me lean into Jesus a little more. And that's what I want this blog to do for people too. May we encourage each other and spur one another on in the Lord!
Life, for me, lately has been a bit mundane. I work. I go to class. I go home. And then I repeat it all the next day. (oh! and I PAY BILLS CONSTANTLY IT SEEMS!...yay for being an adult! *it aint always all its cracked up to be! Lol). So I've gotten in my routine, and most of the time it goes just like that. I don't have much time outside of work and schoolwork to do much of anything else. But every once and a while I make time to hang out with friends, or take a short road trip to see people, or drive home to Opp to see family...In recent years the mundane of life that I'm in right now would have had me depressed and irritable and miserable. I would be so lonely and solemn. And some days can still be lonely, but not so much that I get super depressed...Oddly enough, I am sort of enjoying this season I'm in. It's not always easy, but I feel like I am in a good place. All 4 1/2 years of college were really difficult for me. I entered college (which is a big transition) right during a time of a lot of other changes and transitions in my family and my life. I wouldn't say that I had the typical college experience. I stayed secluded quite a bit and didn't venture out much due to different struggles with depression and anxiety, and family issues I was trying to figure out. Each year of college seemed to bring another struggle. I saw the Lord work in wonderful ways throughout it all, and I actually wouldn't change any of it because of that. As hard as it was, and as dark as some days were, the Lord has worked all those things together for my good and His glory. His faithfulness through those darkest days and nights was constant and true. I grew so much closer to Him through those years....But the point I'm getting at is that the last 4 1/2-5 years of my life seemed to be in constant change, chaos, and struggle. So now, I am in my 3rd semester of graduate school. I am working full-time. I am living in my own apartment. I no longer have crippling anxiety everyday. I am not depressed.....Things are pretty calm in my life right now. Sure, there's not much going on, but I am okay with that. It's sort of nice to not have some huge issue going on or some burden that is weighing me down everyday. It's calm and I can rest.
The other day I was pondering this place I'm in and the calmness of it. I realized that I'm also in that kind of place spiritually as well. I am not in a season where I am hurting and struggling so badly and constantly turning to the Lord with those things. I'm also not super happy and excited on a mountaintop with some huge revelation from the Lord. I am in the Word daily and seeking Him still, and I am learning more of who He is and who I am in Him. And it IS exciting and great, but there's this calmness and steadiness to it...I called my life mundane earlier...well, I wouldn't necessarily call my walk with the Lord mundane right now-it is exciting and I am loving this season I'm in of growing in knowledge and love of Him. It's more just... steady. There are still things I struggle with and days that are hard. There is still temptation and sin in my heart that I have to lay down daily. And there are still truths of the Lord that blow my mind and fill me with so much joy...it's just a good balance of life right now. Everything's not perfect, but it's not all struggle either. It's a good balance. A good steadiness.
So I am enjoying this season. Even though life can feel mundane and boring at times (work. class. home. repeat.), the Lord is doing a lot of work in my heart and showing me so much of Himself, and I am enjoying Him. I am in the beginning of the Advent season right now, and going through the She Reads Truth Advent devotion each day along with my Bible study. I love that. I am really loving this season and looking forward to Christmas and celebrating my Savior and His birth-and remembering God's love for us as He sent His only Son to earth, to be born of a virgin and to go through this human life in order to experience all that we experience, yet to be without sin and lay down His life for us as the perfect and acceptable sacrifice. Remembering His first coming makes me look forward to and expectant of His second coming!
So...although the season will change, I am enjoying the one I'm in presently. The steadiness of life and the steadiness of Christ seems to be exactly what I need right now.
I pray that whatever season you are in right now-whether it is steady like mine or it is struggle or it is a mountaintop-you will experience and rest in the steadiness of Christ. No matter how life is going at the moment, Christ is steady and constant and faithful.
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."-1 Colossians 3:16 "Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me."-Psalm 119:133 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."-Hebrews 13:8
