Brace for Impact

If the Lord had not been on our side... the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.
-Psalm 124:1-5

This week and the week to come are going to be very busy weeks. Today is just the beginning. But I'm not shaken.

I came across this verse last night in my devotional that a dear friend gave me. I take these stories to heart because it is from a book that a woman who helped raised me wanted to give to me before she passed away. It was her plan to give it to me when I came home for Christmas but that was not God's will. So, my mom sent it to me after she got it from the woman's daughter. This book is something that she read and thought that it was something that I had to read. So when I hold this book and read its pages I think about her and remember that she read these exact pages. It makes me wonder what was going across her mind as she read the stories and the verses. I would really like to know. There is obviously a reason that the book is now in my possession. So, when I read it, I keep that in mind. But, that whole tangent is beside the point. See, I read this verse and instantly thought about my weeks to come. About my floods of homework, torrents of tests, and raging amounts of everything else that I have to do. I thought about my stress level, which is at about an 11 out of 10, I thought about last semester and what came along with that, and then thought about God. God wouldn't put me through any of this stuff without a purpose or plan, and definitely without protecting me.

The extreme amount of school work that I am going to face this week, the excruciating amount of studying heading my way, and of course my social life, all of these pressures, they're going to build me up. Not tear me down. These floods, and torrents and raging waters, I wouldn't be facing them if God knew I couldn't get through them. And I can.

I guess that's what God has been doing all along. Building me up, making me strong. Because all of these little tasks like tests and speeches and essays are nothing compared to what I went through last semester. These tasks are simple, and controllable. These are the things that I can control, unlike my life. I can control and manage my tasks like homework, but when it comes to my life, I'm completely out of control of that. Maybe that's God's way of putting me in control of something since I'm such a control freak. Hmm, haven't thought about that.

But anyways, yesterday before I opened my book I was bracing for impact. Bracing for a flood, a torrent, and raging waters to consume my weeks. But now, I'm not. Now I'm ready for these challenges, well petty school tasks actually. But nonetheless challenging petty school tasks. The best part is, when these two weeks of stress are over I will be able to go home for Easter and spend some time with my family. That, along with my faith, is what is getting me through these next two weeks of stress.