Despite the Adversities

This weekend was a first for me. I house sat for the first time. Unfortunately, throughout this past week I was battling a sinus infection and was still drudging through that as I stayed over at this families house. With my summer school coming to a close, I was reluctant to do any studying. Also, I am about to have enter into my last month with my friends and family here before I start over for a spell and travel far, far away. This is mostly irrelevant information, however; I am stating all of this to put you in my shoes a little bit more than usual.

So I was, well, stressed. I was not sleeping well, I was sick, I was in a strange house, I had studying, oh yeah and it rained all weekend...appropriately so.

The devil was making some subtle but powerful attempts.

And that was just Saturday.

Sunday I was not able to go to sleep until 1:00 am, I woke up early to go to church and make coffee only to find my duties had been passed on, I went to the urgent care center in Clemson at 1:45pm and was not called back to the room until 4:45pm.

The devil was still trying.

Then Monday happened.

This is how Monday went:
-I slept through my alarm and woke up with 30 minutes to get ready
-It was poring, raining
-My rain coat is not a rain coat
-My book bag was a little extra heavy today
-I take pride and my parallel parking and for some reason my new medication hindered my ability to get my car in right
-I had to carry my camera and lunch pail
-I was so fatigued in class that it took all my mental ability to care about computer RAM and motherboards
-The mesh on my screen popped which means I have to start an hour long process over
-I had zit on my forehead
-When I got to work, I did not even get to sit down before my boss told me to fix a file, make copies, and re-send him an important file
-The copier literally ate one of the papers. Literally. I had to pry it out of its mouth
-My two o'clock appointment came at 1:00. That is a hour early people!
-He also did not know English that well
-And my lunch was still half eaten
-One of my co-workers could not download some of my pictures (probably because they were too large)
-I was still exhausted
-Dinner plans got cancelled
-Two cars honked at me on my run, one guy leaned out of his car and yelled something at me
-After not running for a week, hills become mountains, curbs become valleys, and oxygen thins gradually

And thats about it. Here I am.

Now, why did I list off all the 'adversities' I endured the past three days?

Because despite these misfortunes, I could not be more joyful to have been granted another day to seek God's face, hear His voice and experience His love yet another time! Please understand that all these little things could have surmounted to a rather rotten day, but I could not help but continue on with my day with contentment and peace in knowing that God is here, there and always with me, and He loves me. I called a good, good friend this morning at 8:20am apologizing for the spontaneity of the early call, but proclaiming how extremely grateful I was that God is still God even when printers, rain, and screens do not work to my advantage. I was telling her that in the past three days, my eyes have been opened to the divine and intimate love that God has set apart for my specifically and I am so honored that He desires for me to live for Him one more day on this Earth. The devil was at work, but failed miserably to get me to relent to his endeavors to distract me from my King. I realized that in the midst of my selfishness and weakness, the Lord wants me to know that He loves me deeply and desires the absolute best in my life. At this truth I fell on my knees pleading that I could experience this joy and love everyday. That I would put aside my flesh and allow the Spirit to fill up my soul and consume my presence.

"The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of you hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD you God will all you heart and with all your soul."
Deuteronomy 30: 9-10

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
Romans 8: 5

"The the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea."
Revelation 12: 17