Hope

Once upon a time I was a very easy going person. Or at least I like to think so. And sometimes, I think I still am. But this school year has turned me into the biggest stress case of a person. Student teaching last semester took a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did it. But I'm overjoyed that it's over. On top of that was my calling for IWA. I love it. Really, I do. But I often looked at it as just one more thing that I had to do every Wednesday when I could be writing my lesson or something else productive. I didn't get to have as much of a social life as I would have liked due to the fact that I was always doing something school related. Before the semester even began, I was almost constantly worried about how I was going to juggle everything. I wasn't really willing to give up my social life, and yet I knew I wasn't getting much of a choice.

The same thing is happening again. School starts tomorrow and for the past week (at least, probably more knowing me) I have once again been worrying about how to juggle school, my calling, and my social life. I have just as much of a work load for school, and of course IWA will keep me constantly busy. Which, therefore, leaves little time for a social life. Again. And every time I think about it, it depresses me. Why? Because once again, I'm not willing to give up my social life.

And then there was church today. I had managed to not really dwell on the above mentioned thoughts much since Friday. But for some reason, it all came back to me this morning as I was getting ready for church. I was still somewhat thinking about how to get through the semester by the time we started singing the closing hymn, How Firm a Foundation. The speakers ended early, so we ended up singing all seven verses. When we got to verse 4, though, I suddenly had a hard time singing.

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress."

The third line was the one that really got me. And it's the one that has now given me the hope that everything will balance out this semester. :)