1st day of spring.

Yesterday, I told Jainah that I set up some high expectations for myself this semester. These include:

• Morning reads.
• Morning exercise.
• Exercise in general...
• Healthier food choices.
• More water.
• Stay disciplined in.. well, everything.
• Maintain good grades.
• Be an awesome intern.
• Ministry, ministry, ministry.
• Oh yeah, plan our wedding!

Uhhhhhhhh, let's just say that my body went into a little shock.

What's going on? Why are you feeding me these things? Why do you workout now? Why are you always out of your comfy room? You know what, let's wake you up automatically at 7 from now on... no matter what time you've slept! What? You're actually getting up! Why do you move around so much?

PRAISE THE GOD WHO SUSTAINS. These past 2 weeks have been completely off though, so my body's freaking out again because of the inconsistency. Oy. Regardless, everyone has been so encouraging in so many ways! I'm so thankful for the church! 

spring break to-do list:

• Get my hair trimmed with my MOH.
• Buy running shoes, because getting up early & running outside felt GOOD.
• Clean my room.
• Take more pictures.
• Remind myself that marriage is fast approaching :) 
• Possible family shenanigans.
• Spend time with the fiancé.
• Hang out with people.
• Raise a virtual child for class.
• Sleep.

1.5 weeks until spring break, then the final sprint to graduation!

Blog reading.

Really enjoying this blog, particularly this snippet from her most recent post:

when the ones i love the most are being testy, whiney, sinning or just annoying me... my first thought is usually, "ah, i'm so tired of their sin. i need 'a break'. i need time for myself. why do they keep committing this same sin over & over. it's wearing me out." very selfish & sinful thoughts. i'm just the same as them. i'm taking it personally that they're sinning. when someone i love is sinning i should be thinking about how i can love them, show them their sin, show them Christ's love & reconcile them to the Lord. loving them graciously is what points them to genuine repentance, not condemnation.

Ah! So easy to approach sin... with more sin. My dear family in Christ, we really must approach sin issues biblically! Praise the Lord for graciously dealing with my sinfulness, because I am so stubborn and selfish...

1 John 2:1, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" ..Praise God for Christ, my Advocate!

Countdown.

One week until my last semester of undergrad,
4 months (+5 days) until I become a college graduate,
11 months until I become a wife!

My goodness, time is going by really quickly! The Lord has been so gracious & I praise Him for His providence. There's much to say, but it's bedtime & I just wanted to post this before midnight (basically, before the date changes & the countdowns are all weird). TMS-bound tomorrow, which means we're on the road by 6am! Hopefully, I'll add a more substantial post soon :)

Happy 2013.

Thankfully clinging to this blessed assurance:

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'  

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:35-39.

No sicknesses,

no budget questions,

no silly wedding talks,

no difficult decisions,

no conflicting relationships,

no lack of time,

no other priorities...

Nothing.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

{& that  is the message that must be conveyed.}

Long weekend, long post.

Another late night! I don't know why I like blogging when there is just SO MUCH to do, but alas, here I am.

I looked back at my posts & realized that I barely give updates on my life. It's usually just verses, hymn lyrics, quotes, & pictures for me. The last, real update was back in August! Eeps. Hello, November.

The Lord has been so gracious in dealing with my sinfulness. Daily, I am reminded of His character & the assurance I have through His Son & it blows my mind. I cannot imagine living without the peace of God in my heart. There are many days that display my lack of trust & faith in His sovereignty & it is all so foolish! He has always been faithful & He has always taken care of me!

School, on the other hand, has been a monster! Haha, just kidding (sort of). I don't know exactly when I started to fall behind but now I am & it's unfortunate. There is so much I want to learn & although there will probably be more time to read after I graduate, I probably... won't. It's the truth! Honestly, I can attribute this to my lack of discipline (uh hello, blogging right now). I only have 4 more weeks-- including this one-- until finals week, followed by winter break, followed by... my last semester of undergrad! Yay! I'm all registered for classes & stoked to finish it off with 15 more units. No such thing as slacking off for [super] senior year.

My internship is wonderful! As the weeks go by, my responsibilities increase, but it's been a blast. I'm learning a lot from everyone at my site, including the kids. For example, I am sooo not as patient as I thought I was, haha. Students with special needs are really somethin'! They're the sweetest though & have so much potential to learn-- they just need a little extra time & encouragement. It's a huge blessing to be at a site where I can talk about God & the Gospel all I want & people would just talk about God and the Gospel with me. I'm even grateful that this has benefited girls at my church! Hello networking! I'm also blessed with a very temporary (& when I say very temporary, I mean, until the end of this month) tutoring job to work with one of my favorite students. I've grown attached to a good amount of kids but I'm excited to take on a new internship next semester & experience new things.

Ministry has been a joy (as always) & I'm so glad the Lord has given me this opportunity to serve with the CPYF. There has been so much growth & so many more hardships, but the mindset has changed from the past years to the fact that God is sanctifying His children & He will be glorified. I don't know where He will lead them in the upcoming year (congrats new officers!), but I know that He is in control of all things.

Speaking of being in control of all things, my health is just dandy. There were a few issues with my heart-- palpitations & such-- but after some emergency check-ups, blood work, & a Holter monitor, it looks like I'm totally normal (for the most part). Praying that everything will be fine in the long run & that I will give a good testimony to God's goodness in my life. This totally reminds me that I need to make another doctor's appointment soon.

One last thing before I head to bed-- we're engaged! Say whaaa?! :) How much more grace can the Lord pour out on my life?!? (A lot, apparently.) Micah & I are so excited! I know he's not here writing this with me, but I know he's excited too. ...I think. (Joke!) It's so strange going through my Google Reader & taking a little extra time looking through the wedding blogs. Before Micah & I got together, I would look through the posts for party ideas, but now I'm actually looking for wedding ideas & it's WEEEEIRRRD. I love it! My wonderful sister-friends have already sent over some wedding magazines, sheesh! I'm actually kind of grateful that we don't have a budget yet, 'cause that means wedding planning doesn't really start, which meaaans we can just enjoy being engaged. Every time I see something I actually like, I have to keep reminding myself that this whole thing isn't just about the wedding. It's about the Gospel! & I cannot wait to display the Gospel through marriage! Christ loving the church! Woohoo! Praise God!

Thanks for the picture, Sam! I know you're reading this!

But anyhoos, no intense planning yet. For now I'm just happy that I'm being introduced as Micah's fiancée. :)

& with that,
GOOD NIGHT.