Needed: Peace

I don't know about you, but I cannot wait for Thanksgiving break. A little relaxing and de-stressing would be amazing right now. My plans for break? Day 1: Sleep. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: See day 1 and 2.  (repeat until Monday after Thanksgiving)

This week is absolutely nuts. Everything is crammed into the final few days before break, with very little room for sleep. There is so much on my mind, my planner is full for this week, I have "sticky notes" with to-do lists all over my computer, and I'm trying to cram everything into the last three days here. And as I sit here typing I realize I have to pack for the week that I won't be on campus. 

I hate packing.

Although, as of two minutes ago, half of my stress just disappeared  That's right, my humanities paper is done and turned in. Now that's out of the way I can fous on my English paper. Oh joy. It is only Tuesday and all ready I am longing for the homework free weekend. After studying for BTS exam, writing the HUM paper, trying to write the English paper, multiple senior photo shoots, library work, visitor weekend, choir, piano, thinking about next semester, and all the other crazy stuff going on my brain is ready to explode.

And then it hit me. Standing in chapel making a mental list of what I would be doing every hour of the day tomorrow, it hit me.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

It had nothing to do with the actually chapel, but I could feel the stress become less and less. I realize that there is no way on earth I could possibly get through this week without prayer. All these burduns, all this stress, I want to replace it with peace that passes all understanding. Peace from God. 

Shalom

Thankful for: Soccer

Today I am thankful for Soccer. 

Mhm, yep. I play soccer now. Midnight soccer to be exact. Tonight I played for two hours, I'm surprised I managed to stay standing upright on the walk back to the dorms. My feet KILL right now. But, it a good way.

Before I came to Providence, soccer was just a stupid sport where people chased a ball up and down the field and nothing really excited happened. (Sorry to you soccer fans if you feel insulted. My views have changed, no worries.) There is something about chasing the ball up and down the field at midnight that builds a stronger community of people. 

Another part of the midnight soccer is the fact that it forces me to run around, which makes me feel not guilty for all the halloween candy I've been eating. Can I help it if a bag of candy corn is only 89 cents?  

Playing soccer on the field has one draw back. My dorm room is covered in grass. The field gets super wet around midnight, huge muddy puddles right in your way. Tonight this huge bubble formed under the grass . . .it was so weird!! It looked like something was about to erupt out of the ground, and at the same time, part of me just wanted to run and jump on it to pop it. There really is no way to avoid getting your shoes covered in grass and mud, however, it is totally worth it in the end.

I feel like this is super short, and it is. But, after playing two hours of soccer I just want to collapse on my bed and fall asleep. Instead of an extra hour of sleep tonight, I got an extra hour of soccer. I'd say that's a pretty fair trade.

Due to the fact that Soccer is still new to me, I have almost no pictures of said sport. This is the only one. 

Thankful for: Chapel

It's November. Crazy isn't it? November means Daylight Savings Time, leaves changing colors, sweaters and jeans, boots, pumpkin pie, half-price candy corn, and Thanksgiving. I love the Fall!

This year is different. I'm not in Iowa where there are dead, smelly, wet leaves laying under piles of snow. I'm in California where there are palm trees un-willing to loose their leaves (thankfully!) and no snow. That being said, I want to start this month off being thankful for the main thing in my life right now: Providence.

Every day (depending on homework, obviously.) I want to post about one thing that I am thankful for here at college. Accompanied by a picture. You probably guessed that. I don't think I could do something like that with out some photos tossed in. : )

Today I am thankful for Chapels. Singing praise to our God with the students is amazing. There might not be hundreds of students, but listening to all of the students lifting their voices high unto the heavens is an amazing sound. I especially look forward to Tuesday night chapels every week. There is something about ending the first day of the school week praising God in chapel. It helps me to relax at the end of a normally super stressful day.

What are you thankful for today?