Just another echo...

I have about a million things swirling through my mind right now that I want to get out. Hopefully I can make this all make sense in writing.  God is really using this student teaching experience to teach me some things that I never expected to learn... But if I really think about that, when has God EVER taught me what I thought He would through something? Ummm... basically never.  So why should now be any different?  If I already know what I think He is going to teach me, then why in the world would He have to teach it to me?!?! Anyway, with that being said here is what I've realized so far (because I'm pretty sure with 4 1/2 weeks left, He still has more to teach me). 


The realization that God is teaching me came tonight.  I'm on spring break, so I'm at home all week, as opposed to in champaign on week nights.  Since I'm in town, one of my friends invited me to her small group tonight.  To be honest, I kinda didn't want to go.  Since I've been away at college for the last 3 years of my life and about a month of Christmas break is the longest I've been home since then, I don't have very many close friends around here.  I know a lot of people because my dad is one of the pastors at church and I basically grew up here, but I have very few close friends my age here now.  All the rest of my close friends are back in Iowa or on the other side of the world (GERTY and JESS!!!) and I miss them dearly.  Anyway, with that being said, I was reluctant to go tonight.  But I decided that a good friend would go, and that I should try to be a good friend and just suck it up and go.  Little did I know what God had in store for me tonight. 


Lesson #1. God taught me the lesson that I think every Bible college graduate talks about.  "I wish I had worked harder in my Bible and doctrine classes in school and really learned all of it."  That was my thinking tonight.  It is so hard when you are completely surrounded by the Bible and Doctrine all the time to really appreciate it.  I wish that I would have studied during those classes to learn more about God and His Word, instead of doing it to earn a grade.  But then I think, such is life.  Hindsight is 20/20 right?  I know and have seen more now, than when I was a freshman, and I know I will continue to learn more and more about life as I grow older.  I realized this because I started thinking about where God is leading Jerrod and I.  We really think that God is calling us into ministry, and with that realization, I could very well be a pastor's wife in the not-so-distant future.  I may be the small group leader, counselor, mentor, etc.  I want to be ready for that day, when I will be called to give advice to other women and girls and I want to be able to know scripture that I can point them back to.  As I sat and listened tonight to these girls share their hearts with one another, I couldn't help but be thinking "I know there is a doctrine or an attribute of God for this topic."  The challenge to me is, do I know God and His Word well enough to be able to use it to give advice and counsel to others?


Lesson #2.  I realized how much I miss my friends and church in Iowa.  Ok, I know this doesn't sound like a spiritual lesson, but I promise if you give me a second I'll explain.  God has really blessed me with some great friends and a great church there.  These people I have really grown to love in the last three years.  But isn't it interesting, that it takes me having to be away from all these wonderful people for me to realize what I have.  I have friends at school that understand all of the daily stresses that I go through, and I miss being able to talk to them about those things.  I miss my other friends, that know all about the stress of wedding planning that I'm going through or are just fun to hang out with (yes, David, I miss the "fat" jokes too).  I miss my college group at church, where we are constantly being challenged to grow and are learning together.  There are other people in and around that area that I miss.  I've realized that these are people that God has placed in my life that are there to encourage me, to laugh with me, to pray for me, to talk with me, to challenge me, to praise God with me, to sing with me, to be sad with me, and the list goes on and on.  I am so thankful for these people and their place in my life.  I miss that.  I miss all of these great things about the relationships that I have built over the last few years.  Who knew? God did... 


These two lessons are what God really seemed to lay on my heart tonight.  I thought it was neat too because the first person I wanted to share it with was my wonderful fiancé Jerrod who I am also missing because he is in Iowa too, but that is a whole other topic for another day. :)  God is good and He is faithful, and He is definitely at work!  


Hopefully if you took the time to read this novel I have written, it makes sense to you, and maybe God can even use it to echo in your heart what He wants you to learn.  


I pray that I will be just an echo of my Creator...