This picture pretty much sums up how I feel about life this week. Final projects... final papers... final exams... barf. I just want to watch "Telebubbies."
Let's take a look at my week, shall we?
In my News Design class: magazine page spread for final project due Tuesday. Video and other multimedia for same final project due by the end of the week.
In my Public Affairs Reporting class: Story due by 5 p.m. tomorrow. City Council meeting Tuesday night; story due Wednesday. Must attend court one day this week, in all my spare time, and write a story. "News Analysis" due on day of final exam.
In my Comm. Law & Ethics class: Group project due Tuesday. Have to write a paper to go with it. Have I started? Of course not.
In my Multimedia Storytelling class: Final project (creating a website) must be published by 3 p.m. Wednesday. Actually almost done with that one though.
In my History of the Mass Media class: Research paper due Friday at 11 a.m.
So last week I mentioned that I was going to post "my favorite thing I've ever written" here once it was done... and it is! And I'm really excited to share it with you!
To make a long story as short as possible, I have a very dear friend who's just been in one of those "valley" seasons in her life. One day about two weeks ago she was just really heavy on my heart, and I had been praying for her all morning. I was driving to class that morning just declaring freedom over her life, and telling God how much I hurt when she's hurting, and how I can’t wait to be “on the mountain” with her when she gets there, to rejoice with her, and just soak up all of God’s goodness. And what I learned that morning is that God feels the same way... He told me so!
So I sat down in class that morning, and it was one of those moments when God just started speaking. So I started writing down what I was seeing/hearing in my mind. (And now I sound like my aunt Karen, the schizophrenic) Don’t worry, it was the Spirit — I promise. Ha. Song of Songs 2:10-13 came to mind, which says this:
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
I just love the idea of God inviting us to come away with him … the idea of him wanting to take us on a little adventure and show us something new. I love that those verses talk about winter ending and rain stopping, and flowers blooming and birds singing… it’s God telling us that spring is coming. And he wants us to be a part of it.
I’ve honestly never experienced God’s presence quite like I did that morning, in Communications Law & Ethics class, of all places. He just kind of started painting this picture in my mind, and I wrote it down as he did ... And it came out in the form of lyrics. So I gave them to my friend Noland and he’s been working on it, and he and our other friend Brandon finished recording it last night. It turned out beautiful!
The best part about all of this was getting to give it to the person it was written for last night. It was probably one of the top 5 sweetest moments of my whole life. To see her in tears because of her hope being restored by the words of this song was absolutely incredible. It was so humbling and so encouraging, that God would speak to me so that I could speak — or sing — encouragement into the lives of others.
My hope and prayer for this song was to encourage someone who's struggling... to reassure them that spring is coming... and I hope that if you find yourself in a similar season of your life, these words would speak to your heart and give you a hope and a joy in the promise that God is bringing you towards better days. That they wouldn't just be words that I wrote coming out of Noland Gilmore's mouth, but that you would hear a sweet invitation from your Heavenly Father to just come and be with him.
I was flipping through my journal this week, just reflecting on this semester. How does anyone who doesn't journal keep up with their life? I'm not sure I would have remembered half of the things that happened this semester if I hadn't written them down — it's flown by! As I read through the last few months of my life, one thing popped into my mind that sums it all up:
Yep. Nilla wafers. Have you ever noticed the slogan on this box? It's my favorite: simple goodness. This semester, God has given me nilla wafers. And it's been some of the sweetest months — full of his presence, overflowing with blessings — full of simple goodness.
And you know what you do when life hands you nilla wafers? Make it into something even sweeter: banana pudding! Yum! Haha. Or maybe not, I don't know. Banana pudding is just one of my favorites. Reminds me of my grandma. Simple goodness... what a way to describe my grandma.
Here's to hoping God sends some nilla wafers your way... cheers. :)
Haven't really blogged in a while. But gosh, this last month or so has been wonderful! God most certainly has me on a "mountain top" right now... feeling so blessed! More to come, I promise.
Also on deck:
1. Just finished Rob Bell's "Love Wins" — thoughts on that to come. It was a good one.
2. Recently wrote something I'm pretty proud of ... as soon as it's perfectly polished I'll be sharing it here. :)
3. "Thoughts for Eve" will again be posted tomorrow afternoon... topic still TBD.
