Perspective, opportunity and other randoms

Phew.
Hi everybody. I've been kinda MIA for a while, but I missed you guys, so here goes

On Fridays over here a group of people who love to throw caution to the wind and just write gather to share what five minutes buys them. Just five minutes. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.

Your words. This shared feast.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.

Here goes Perspective

Growing up is all a matter of perspective. When I was eight, I thought sixteen years old was ancient, but now I'm realizing I'm nowhere near mature at all.  I'm nowhere near ready to be a college girl. I have enough trouble not losing everything while still at home with my parents---how could I possibly be expected to take care of myself? Luckily I have a year left at home, but even that is a weird thought. I'll find my mind thinking all of these end of the world thoughts---last first day of school, last Christmas break, last essay, last exam, on and on and on. And then school as I know it will be over. Mind blowing. 

But even greater and better and more extreme than these next two crucial years is his excitement about what he has in store for me. He's written it all across the Bible and the days that I've lived and all of the people who have lived or are living or will live. This world is so much bigger than anything I could comprehend. It amazes me(when I remember) that the same God who hears my heart is the one who proclaimed his power over and over again throughout history. He runs out into this huge storm called life while I sit quietly in his hand. Overlooking my future and destiny and tomorrows, I know I am loved more than I could ever understand. And that is enough. 


And here's this week's OPPORTUNITY
This year has been incredible. I've known people I had never even known existed. I opened the world of colleges and life outside high school. I've laughed and cried at so many different things and each experience has shaped me into more of a person than I was, even the sleepless nights and endless hours of work. Opportunity shows up when I don't want to do something but end up doing it anyway. It manifests itself into the first step into a classroom or nearer to somebody than I was before. Conversations unfold that I've never had before, thoughts pop into my mind and God himself reveals himself in a way he's never done before. It happens when I push myself to be what I know I can't and I grow even in the falling short. Opportunity means that God is showing me that all things are possible through Christ and  usually happen when I'm red and flushed and scared out of my mind. Opportunity is God revealing over and over that everything works out for the best, and greater things have yet to come. 




And several thoughts I don't know what to do with but love anyway...

From Tuesday's musings

I'm addicted to happy endings  I've been known to read the end of any given book not long after I pick it up, whether right when I decide to commit or when the character is in a predicament I'm certain he won't get out of. You can't do this in real life. I've wished that I had a script for this, that I knew how and where and why I died, who I married where I went to college, what I did after. These are the things that God should tell us about before we even begin this crazy thing called life. But he doesn't. He could. But he doesn't. Revelations 21:4 is the only mention of what's going to happen. And that has everything and nothing to do with me.

From...a really long time ago, but I feel it's still relevant seeing as how the seniors just left and I'm thinking these same kind of thoughts...

Today my future showed up in a whole new way. I finally, to the relief of my mom and dad, went to tour Adrian today, and it was actually fun. I think she was worried that when the time came, I wouldn't be ready to make a decision for myself, that somehow I would forget and flounder and die.


So I walk into that college and suddenly a whole new way of living unfolds and I can see and touch and smell yet another path I can take and what my life may look like if I so choose. At the very least, a new stage of my life unfolds where I'm able to explore my own options and make my own decisions for the very first time. And it scares me and thrills me to the core to think of a new kind of lving where I live among friends that I just met, not family I've known for my whole life. Where I take care of me and decide whether or not I go to church or study or do the right thing or not. And that's just plain terrifying. To have unlimited independance, the doors of the world flung wide open on oppurtunities, both good and bad, that I've never had before. And it scares the pants off me to be responsible for me

BUT
I'm not alone.
God is with me
For though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your perfect love is casting out fear
And even though I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life, I won't turn back
I know you are near. And I will fear no evil, for my God is with me. And if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?
Now isn't the time to plan and worry and try to keep everything the way it is. It's time to learn to hold my life and my friends and family close to my heart but with an open hand. It's time to enjoy today and not worry too much about tomorrow, because I have God and my parents to take care of me.
It's time to do the next right thing, love hard and hold tight to the one who has my whole life in His hand.