Learnings from an Essay: Do Hard Things

On October 26, I downloaded the application for an essay contest. For the past several months I've been researching, writing, editing, and starting over again.
I really began in earnest last month. On Wednesday, I had it bound and mailed to Virginia.
Throughout the whole process, I've been learning. The overlying theme of what I've learned: Do Hard Things.
To be honest, writing this essay was a bit rough. I like writing, but it doesn't always come easy.
My friends over at The Rebelution gave me a challenge. They told me to "Do Hard Things." I cannot recount the numerous times I repeated those three words to myself. I put quite a few hours into my essay, many of which I'd have rather spent reading a book. But then I'd remember what they'd said and--gritting my teeth--get back to work.
The Rebelution also encouraged me to settle for okay, but to do my best. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..."
I'm sure that if I read it again, I'd find more things to fix in my paper [I haven't read it since Wednesday for that precise reason], but I'm satisfied that I worked hard and sent my essay on time.

Autumn Leaves and Daffodils

Last week [Tuesday to be exact] I was reading Randy Alcorn's book Lord Foulgrin's Letters. Directly as I came to this paragraph then heard an odd sound, as if paper were being crinkled.
"The Enemy is a romantic and notoriously sneaky. He can woo them through the colors of autumn leaves, the sound of a waterfall, ocean mist on their faces, the sight of stars at night."
I turned to find the source of the sound and discovered a daffodil had escaped from its sepals. It was the only other living thing in the room. And the only thing that could have possibly made the sound.
God's wooing is beautiful.

Bed of Illness

The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
- Psalm 41:3

Good verse for a sick girl.

Exceedingly Glad

"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven..."
-Matthew 5:12a

Things Above

Last night I finished reading Ted Dekker's book The Slumber of Christianity. It has to be my favourite of his works.
The subtitle is: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth. That's what is did for me. Now my mind is screaming, "AGH! I want to go there!"
Heaven is our home
Where we'll live together
Shining like the sun
With our King forever
Heaven is our home
Heaven is our home
I can hardly wait to get there. Home. With Jesus. Forever.
That's one of the things I can't get my mind around. Eternity. The last couple of nights I've lain awake in bed pondering it. Everything I know has an end. All the good books I've ever read ended. All the times I've enjoyed with friends ended. Someday, my life will have ended. But heaven doesn't end. Never. Never. Never. It makes me want to laugh. With Him forever.
Oh, just imagine it.
"I say with Paul, fix your mind on heaven. Fascinate your mind with Christ, and fan into flames a vision of the afterlife.
Obsess after the bliss that awaits you as a joint heir with Christ in heaven." (The Slumber of Christianity)
Come quickly, Lord!

On Job

As I was reading Job the beginning of Job the other day, three verses stood out to me.
In Job 1:21, just after learning that all his valuable possessions- from camels, to sheep, to children- are destroyed Job says, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Then, while covered head to foot with boils his wife says that Job is still "hold[ing] fast to [his] integrity" (Job 2:9).
In verse 10, Job responds to his wife's suggestion to "Curse God and die" with "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?"
When I look at Job's troubles mine seem comparatively insignificant. Yet do I hold fast to my integrity, blessing the Lord and submitting to His will when those trials come?

You give and take away,
You give and take away,
My heart will choose to say,
Lord, blessed be Your name

Troughs and Peaks

"...in His effort to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more that on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else.
...He leaves the creature to stand up on its legs--to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be...He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never in more danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every taste of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis