- Dec 22, 2017
- 2,355
- 2,915
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Single
- Politics
- US-Constitution
I've had a long-running stressor of wanting to transfer colleges, not because my current one is bad, but because I want to change majors to Theology, which isn't taught where I am now. However, no one else has had the financial aid necessary for me to be able to switch.
A week or so ago, after accidentally showing up to an evening high school mass at my church, I talked to someone that I didn't know would be there, and she mentioned a big scholarship to one of the colleges I was looking at that offered theology.
Well, crap, here we go again... Over a year now, I've been wanting to study theology, and have done so with books & adult ed, but here comes another pull towards transferring colleges--and there's a visit day about scholarships going on Monday & Tuesday! E-mail home, talking about it, now my parents are confused, I'm sick of dealing with this, and have just given up & told God, "Wherever You want to take me, take me", I've told some friends about it, had to tell them what was going on...it's been stressful.
But, we must remember Paul's charge to the Thessalonians: "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18) As I've found over the years, as soon as you say "Thanks, God!", He reveals graces that have come through the unfortunate circumstance. In this case, He reminded me of a talk on marijuana in my class on drugs & addictions: The professor was discussing how marijuana makes people real chill, thinking everything's alright, and sometimes people think this is a good thing, until they saw a regular marijuana user holding his newborn child, and there was no joy on his face. The miracle of life was just another thing in his chill world.
We need ups & downs, because that's how life is. I needed this period of stress, because this weekend will be extra relaxing now that I'm past it. Everything is an extension of God's grace--why else would be thankful in "all circumstances"?--and this time of stress is no different. God wanted me to have a nice fall break, so He was nice enough to give me a week of stress beforehand.
To have ups & downs requires having downs; as I write this, I'm becoming very thankful for the times of depression I had in my teenage years, because I don't think I'd be enjoying life as much right down if I didn't have that low point.
A week or so ago, after accidentally showing up to an evening high school mass at my church, I talked to someone that I didn't know would be there, and she mentioned a big scholarship to one of the colleges I was looking at that offered theology.
Well, crap, here we go again... Over a year now, I've been wanting to study theology, and have done so with books & adult ed, but here comes another pull towards transferring colleges--and there's a visit day about scholarships going on Monday & Tuesday! E-mail home, talking about it, now my parents are confused, I'm sick of dealing with this, and have just given up & told God, "Wherever You want to take me, take me", I've told some friends about it, had to tell them what was going on...it's been stressful.
But, we must remember Paul's charge to the Thessalonians: "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18) As I've found over the years, as soon as you say "Thanks, God!", He reveals graces that have come through the unfortunate circumstance. In this case, He reminded me of a talk on marijuana in my class on drugs & addictions: The professor was discussing how marijuana makes people real chill, thinking everything's alright, and sometimes people think this is a good thing, until they saw a regular marijuana user holding his newborn child, and there was no joy on his face. The miracle of life was just another thing in his chill world.
We need ups & downs, because that's how life is. I needed this period of stress, because this weekend will be extra relaxing now that I'm past it. Everything is an extension of God's grace--why else would be thankful in "all circumstances"?--and this time of stress is no different. God wanted me to have a nice fall break, so He was nice enough to give me a week of stress beforehand.
To have ups & downs requires having downs; as I write this, I'm becoming very thankful for the times of depression I had in my teenage years, because I don't think I'd be enjoying life as much right down if I didn't have that low point.
