07 January 2010

A New Year

Hello, Everyone!

I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season, and Happy New Year! I have been very busy with getting ready to go to London, and I know it's been a long time since I have written anything. That is not, however, because nothing has been going on!

I think I said that I survived my first semester at Houghton College. Well, I did much more than survive; it was wonderful. In so many ways, it was so much more than I could have ever expected. I learned a lot, (both in my education and in living pretty much on my own,) made wonderful friends, and in general had a very satisfactory college experience. I now approach with confidence a semester in London, a study abroad program offered by Houghton College. The experiences I had over the last few months have taught me much about living outside the life I grew up with as a relatively protected, homeschooled farm girl, and I am thankful for having my time at Houghton as a more controlled environment for learning about the world before jumping into it. But now, I am anticipating living in London and by God's grace, I fully intend to have a wonderful time there.

One of the things I have learned over break is the importance of living and not merely existing. I had probably heard it/subconsciously known it before, but as I was reading Erwin McManus's book Chasing Daylight ( http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Daylight-Seize-Power-Moment/dp/0785281134 ) it was brought to my attention that I must not hold back when God is clearing the path for me. I need to be watching for the opportunities He puts before me, and when He says 'go', I need to throw myself into it instead of asking "are You sure?". I am praying that He will give me courage and wisdom, because I sure need it! But, perhaps just as importantly, I'm praying that He will give me passion and vision, joy and strength, and that everything I do would honor Him - including taking off running when He says 'go'.

Life has been busy with getting ready to leave, a game night with the homeschool group, and still spending time with my family. We are also getting ready for Half Way Day, my family's annual mid-winter celebration. (This is usually held on February 1st. Since I will be out of the country at that time, my family kindly moved the celebration up to this Saturday so I will be able to join in!) We enjoy having something to look forward to in the middle of what can become very long, cold winters up here on Kelly Hill - an astonishing bounty of delicious food, and gifts for each other.

I hope you are all having a fantastic day/week/month/whenever you read this. If I don't blog again until then . . . I'll write from London, England!!!

1 comment:

  1. Great post!! I love what you said about needing to be ready to do what God wants. Sure, there are times when we must simply wait patiently on God. But that is so much different than doing nothing and waiting to be forced into action. I so agree with you that when God opens that door (for me, being accepted at PHC; for you, getting into the honors program), we need to be ready to jump into things...charge through that door! :)

    You know I can't wait for those millions of London blog posts....but I'm going to miss you tons while you're gone. But that's what Skype is for, right? :P

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