I haven't written much of a real update in a while, and this isn't really an update in the logistical sense, more of a Jesus update. I just have been camping out on Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11... (for 5 long months)

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.  He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end."

Have you ever read a verse and then all the sudden it is literally the answer to all of life's problems?  I am there with this verse.  Jesus is really trying to root me in contentment no matter the season I find myself in. Currently, pursuing that contentment in the Lord seems to be the answer to anything I encounter from an overload of school projects, an absolutely filled to the brink schedule, a emotionally trying day at Wesley, being homesick, etc.  I repeat this verse to myself and anyone who happens to be within 20 feet of me 90 times a day.  I just cannot grasp this idea that each day, each season, each messy situation is BEAUTIFUL for that time.  I'm not called to just get by in the day... I'm called to see it as beautiful- seriously, beautiful!  My limited sight causes this to be such a hard concept to grasp at times.  

There is beauty in my busy every night of the week schedule because God is working in and through me during those evenings.  

There is beauty in my frustration in completing school work because it's part of following a call the Lord has offered me. 

There is beauty in days when I come home in tears from Wesley because God is breaking me and molding me. 

There is beauty in being homesick because the Lord is teaching me to trust Him and Him alone for my comfort.  

There is beauty in feeling exposed and vulnerable here because that's a state of being God can work with. 

There is beauty in my restlessness for adventure because God created me with zeal for life and an appreciation for this world He's made.  

Maintaining this attitude, especially when tragedy comes, is near to impossible.  But here's the key: Romans 12:2... God has to change the way we think.  We don't see the perspective of eternity, and He sees the work of art He's creating, layer by layer.  We have to let Him transform our minds, or we will never rest in contentment.  

Easy to write, huh? Painful and challenging to live out.