A stretching.

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Matthew 14:31-32

This internship has been nothing short of a challenge. It's been a constant step in faith that Jesus would grow me and carry me. And honestly...I've loved every second. Through the tears and through the laughs I can see God's hand in it all, and that gives me hope. 

The semester has started amazingly. This new group of students is so unified, open, and desiring of God. I've been praying for my dorm room for months and I know that God has blessed me with amazing, sweet girls. We have been able to laugh together, sing together, cry together, and pray together...and it's only the first week. I'm so encouraged by their sweet spirits and am so thankful to God for each one of them. 

There has been a challenge. A woman with Aspergers syndrome is in our room. Initially my flesh lashed out in frustration with the challenges that come along with this...but surely God is changing each and every one of us in our room through this. I know that we are going to grow so much in patience and compassion as we labor in love and prayer for this. God loves her and sees her as precious and we also need to see her as this too! Different is NOT bad! God's helping my carnal self to do this. Even this morning when normally my impatient self would lash out in a harsh voice God, and God alone, gave me patience to sit with her and pray with her and read through Philippians 4 with her. She then opened up to me about her life and we got to talk about real things. It just goes to show that she can hear whether or not I'm angry. And if she can sense my anger, then we will get nowhere. But if I have a direct gentleness then that gives God room to work with both of us. I know I have so much more to learn in this situation, but I can already see God's hand in it. 

In other news, overseeing housekeeping, laundry, and preparing the conference lodgings has been a stretch for me in its own ways. Administration and communication with a large team have always been weaknesses for me. I feel like I constantly have a to-do list in the front of my mind. But my team is wonderful so far. They work really hard and pay attention to details. I'm so blessed!!! 

I'm just thankful that God has given me these challenging situations so that I can grow, and He's also given me a lot of grace and favor in certain things so that I can also have good fellowship with the girls here.

Life is good. God is good.

Please be praying for:

Finances (Still in need of $3,000 for internship)
Upcoming outreaches
Unity in my dorm room