I haven't written in a while, but lately I have been thinking about a subject a lot, and I just felt called to share these thoughts.
First, I want to share a little bit about my personal relationship with God. I was raised in a Godly household and I attended church pretty much every Sunday until I was 18, and started working and had to work on Sundays. I worked for about a year before I got a job where I didn't have to work Sundays. I started going back to church then and I went pretty much every Sunday until I started a different job about 3 years later that I had to work Monday-Saturday, so Sunday was really my only day to myself and I didn't go to church as much. Luckily, by this point in my life, my relationship with God was strong. I knew what I believed, and my faith was and still is strong. I have a great relationship with God, although I don't attend church as often. When I do go, I always enjoy it, but I don't feel like I have to be there to be close to God. I know many people don't feel this way, and that's fine. I truly believe that you should do whatever you have to to keep your relationship with God great, and your faith strong.
Now, onto what I feel called to really write about. The 23rd Psalm has always been one of my favorite passages in the Bible. That being said, I think I have taken it for granted. Yes, it's beautiful. Yes, it is well known. Yes, many of us have heard it so many times we don't even listen to it. So, today, I really want to talk about a part of it.
"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me." -Psalm 23:4 (this is not all of verse 4)
What an incredible thing! How amazing is it that I will NEVER have to be scared of anything? The only thing I have to fear comes simply from me. And, what a blessing it is that I can overcome that if I can just rely on my God. This beautiful promise has been on my mind a lot lately. The past two years have been pretty rough on me, though they have had their high points. Obviously I got married during that time, which was amazing and has been quite a blessing for me. Our marriage is not perfect, but Matt has been supportive and amazing through it all. Less than a week after we got married, my grandfather passed away (we were on our honeymoon). That was incredibly hard for me, but God got me through it. Later that year, my dog Maggie passed away. This was another extreme hardship for me. I have a REALLY big place in my heart for my animals, they really are almost people to me and they are certainly a part of my family. God got me through that as well. I was having several problems at work, nothing too serious, but stressful. Right about that time, my boss, who I adored, got a promotion and told us she was leaving. Hard. It got harder when her replacement and I didn't really get along. I was miserable, and I felt like God was testing me. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I asked for the situation to change, I prayed for another job. Finally I stopped praying for what I wanted and started praying for God to show me what HE wanted. And He did.
I had been considering going back to school, but because of something that happened in 2007, I was unable to get financial aid. I filled out the appeal, even though it seemed pointless. I didn't have a medical reason or a death or any crisis to excuse my bad grades that year. I was just burnt out on school at the time. The appeal was denied during the first round. I had completely given up on it, but I was praying, and I got an e-mail telling me my appeal had gone through on the second round and I WOULD get financial aid! Although I knew this was the right thing, I was still a little nervous because I also knew that it would put a financial strain on my little family. But I did it and it's going great and even though I've had trouble finding a part time job, God is making it work.
The moral of the story is, if God brings you to it, He'll get you through it! As Christians, we really have nothing to fear because no matter where we go, God is with us, and he will protect us. And that, my friends, is all we will EVER need.
