What I Gave Up Sleeping In For

It's snowing. Hard.

It finally feels like Iowa!

It makes not only the roads slick and scary on the way to work, but even on the way to class the snow makes the sidewalks treacherous.

It makes me want to wear boots for three months straight and never look at flats again till the lovely, beautiful green grass reappears.

It makes me want to curl up next to the window with a good book and warm hot chocolate, but alas, the semester won't slow down just for the snow. It's only gaining speed now....

And I am so EXCITED to find out what God has in store for this semester - especially after tonight. See, let me explain....

Believe it or not, sometimes I do things not because I want to, but just because I should. Tonight, leaving the warmth of our dorm and the seven projects I was working on, in order to make the trek across campus in the cold, was not something I WANTED to do. But it was our first SMF (Student Missionary Fellowship meeting) of the semester, and having been elected the official secretary, I heaved an inward sigh and decided I had better be there.

Even as I could feel the attitude bubbling within me, I knew it would be one of those nights at the meeting where God would go above and beyond to make it an encouraging, challenging time, just in order to chide me for my reluctant attitude.

And wouldn't you know, that is totally what He did....

(SMF is a group of roughly one fifth of the students on campus who meet Monday nights to share personal prayer requests, sing, hear from missions-minded speakers, and pray for specific missions works on continents around the globe. It's awesome!)

The student president of our group, Josh, spoke tonight on how God has used small prayer groups of the past to make a large impact on the world for the Gospel of Christ.

Then we did something a little unconventional, breaking up into groups and praying for this coming semester. My group was no accident. Each of the four us in the group shared something that God had impressed on him to work on this semester. One girl was asking for the courage to share the name of Christ with others. Another of the girls wanted to consistently take the time to pray amidst her busy schedule, and the guy that was in our group had dedicated his semester to God on his way back to school, asking that God help him keep his focus where it needed to be.

And then we prayed. Not a rushed, hushed prayer, but each one of us just talking to God, sharing our struggles, and praying for a victorious semester.

And by definition of victory I mean a step further in growth than we are right now.

God used that SMF meeting to greatly encourage my heart to keep growing. And to speak of it with other believers He has so graciously placed around me, who are in the exact same boat as I am! (to borrow the funny mental word picture :-)

Anyway, I wanted to get on, since it has been fifteen days or so since I last posted (but who's counting?) Besides my mother. haha I could write so much more, but time will not permit me seeing as it is 12:20 AM, going on 7:00.

Yes, that's when I'll be up - there are a few select things that I'm going to really miss about break.

But for an awesome semester of growth in the Lord, I would say it's worth it.