perspective.

I was all ready to post another blog today, but out of the blue (on my drive home from work today) God inspired me with another message. Funny how He does that, eh?

                As I come to the end of what I like to call the “craziest 4 months of my life” (aka. first semester of 3^rd year), I can’t help but wonder, “Was I absolutely insane when I committed to overload on classes this semester?” My initial reaction is “heck yes I was”, as exams are next week and I have 5 of them between Monday and Friday.

                To tell you the rest of my “God inspiration”, I need to give you a little background information. This past semester (Sept-Dec) I have been interning at a pregnancy centre in my community, leading a girl’s self-esteem group. This past Tuesday was my last day at the centre, so I did a mini lesson with the girls and then we watched a movie, Soul Surfer. I’m sure you know the story, whether you’ve seen the movie, or heard it on the news. There’s a scene in the movie where Bethany Hamilton, shark attack survivor, goes to her youth leader in tears wondering why God could have done this to her. Her youth leader goes on to tell her that sometimes we’re too close to a situation to see what the bigger picture is; we need a different perspective.

         So, this is what I try to do. As the end of my semester is in sight, and the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming clearer, I can now see what God’s purpose was for me these past few months. As, part of my internship, I was given the honour (and what an honour it was!) of going to different community and social services in our area, and learning more about them. 

I went into this project not thinking too much about what I would get out of it, but God had bigger plans than I had for myself! He revealed to me his work within our community. If you don’t think God is working in your hometown go down to a food bank, go to a women’s shelter, go to a pregnancy centre. He is doing AMAZING things all around us!

                It was easy for me to be stressed out with school, my workload, essays and tests, but when I look outside of ourselves I was able to see our Lord’s handiwork carved into my everyday circumstances. Sometimes we can get so consumed with our lives (school, work family, relationships, or lackthereof) that we can’t see the bigger picture. We need a new perspective.

                I hope this makes sense to you as you read it. It’s something that God has laid upon my heart today. Wishing you all a blessed weekend, and to all you students out there, a stress-free exam time.