I haven’t lived in North Texas in almost 6 years now. I find myself back here, and at times it is a bit surreal. Everything is at my fingertips, I can go where I need to go, do what I want to do and be who I want to be. I attend a Baptist University and most of the time I go unnoticed. I can go about my business, attend all of my classes for my Christian Studies major and no one questions my beliefs, everyone assumes that I am a Christian, that I go to church every Sunday, that I spend time with the Lord every day of the week and since I have spent “x” number of months in “x” number of countries doing missions I am some kind of “super Christian.” But this week it hit me. What happens when the storms come rolling in? It’s been raining here a lot lately. For almost two weeks I saw the sun maybe one day. I didn’t want to leave my room, walk to class or even get out of bed. Conveniently, that has also been my view of God. With the stress of returning to America, relocating back to this side of the state, being reintroduced to “life” in less than a week before school starting…the list could and does go on. I found myself not spending time with my Creator. The storms were coming and instead of seeking out safety and shelter from Him, I stayed hiding in the dark, refusing to move.
Yesterday I couldn’t do it any more. I felt like I had nothing left, I was fighting by myself and I couldn’t fight alone any longer. If I have learned anything about community, it is the importance of having them around to support and uplift in times of need. I’ve been struggling with being the oldest girl here. I joke with my roommate that I’m going through a quarter-life crisis. So I have had to fight back some pride and the lies that because I am older I have it all together. I’m afraid to let others around me see that I’m broken and empty. So last night I grabbed my iPod, put on my shoes and headed outside for a walk. It was dark and I knew there was only about 20 minutes left till security would 
come looking for delinquents to take back to the dorms. During my walk I knew that I couldn’t do this alone. Conveniently, my RA is also in one of my classes and we had a paper due today. We are pros at procrastination so we had been talking most of the evening about what we needed to do for certain aspects of this paper. I ended up sitting in her room with her for a bit and then kinda let everything pour out of my mouth. She sat and listened. There was no judgment or condemnation, but rather I was met with support and love. More than anything, I was encouraged by the time I left…around 1am.
come looking for delinquents to take back to the dorms. During my walk I knew that I couldn’t do this alone. Conveniently, my RA is also in one of my classes and we had a paper due today. We are pros at procrastination so we had been talking most of the evening about what we needed to do for certain aspects of this paper. I ended up sitting in her room with her for a bit and then kinda let everything pour out of my mouth. She sat and listened. There was no judgment or condemnation, but rather I was met with support and love. More than anything, I was encouraged by the time I left…around 1am. This morning I knew I still had quite a bit to do. I still had my paper to write…I hadn’t even started writing it yet. I had a quiz for my night class to study for and a Bible study in between those classes. Everything that needed to be done had to be done before 2pm. But I made it my priority today to spend time with my Father. I headed down to the caf with less than 30 minutes of breakfast left. I grabbed something to eat and sat in the corner booth. And for the first time in weeks I had a sweet time of worshiping the Creator of the universe! The rest of my day was amazingly better, I finished my paper, studied for my quiz and was focused. I didn’t find myself distracted by the troubles around me, but instead decided to find my rest and shelter in the Lord.
When the storms come where do you go?
