Learning

I'm starting to realize God is teaching me a lot, even though I haven't been doing a great job of searching for His teaching most of the time this semester.

I think there are two types of learning...the learning you get for free (whether you like it or not) and the learning you have to actually apply yourself to.

That applying yourself thing? Yeah...I don't always enjoy it when it involves sitting for hours staring at a giant nursing book. That free learning thing? Yeah...I don't always enjoy it when it involves God knocking me over the head with a hard lesson when I wasn't expecting it.

But guess what? That applying yourself thing is such a blessing. I have the incredible opportunity to go to a Christian University where I get an EXCELLENT education and a WONDERFUL community to spend my life here with. God has even given me a brain to use for that applying yourself thing, even if I sometimes chose not to use it. Thank you, God!! Help me to use it as You want me to!

Guess what else? God is such an amazing God that He continuously gives me that free learning thing. For free (duh!). He is constantly teaching me more about Himself. He shows me His creativity through the colors in the leaves around campus (not to mention the squirrels and little bunny rabbits). He shows me His love through my roommates, my friends here, and my friends & family back home. He shows me His innocence (and His PATIENCE) through the children I babysit. He shows me His attention to detail through Alex, the young man on campus who has autism, delivers the mail to various offices, and who probably knows more first and last names on this campus than anyone else. And who can tell you what movie is on in The Merc just from seeing a glimpse of the previews before the movie. Incredible.

I love that free learning thing.

As He has been teaching me for the past, well...twenty-one years, I suppose...God is still teaching me that HE is in control. That HE is Lord. And that HE deserves that title. I'm still learning patience, trust, and faith. I've wrestled with what it looks like to be a Biblical Christian in today's society. I've learned that it still involves preaching the Gospel to yourself every single day. If I ever get to the point where I think I've finally "got it" and I have no more growing or learning to do, then I'm farther than ever from "getting it."

So, amidst filling out medication sheets, doing a wellness fair, studying for the next mental health quiz, and cleaning my fish's horribly dirty tank (sorry for taking so long, Shamu!!), God is gracious enough to pull me closer to Himself and point out that He is the reason I have the ability to do all these things. He is without a doubt the One who brought me to where I am today. He is not leaving me here. He will continue to teach me, to push me to learn more about Him and about His world, for as long as I am alive. Which, thanks to His work through Jesus Christ, is an eternity.

Colossians 3:12-17
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.