~The End or the Beginning?~

The Monday I got back to Waterloo from reading week, my friend Lucie casually mentioned how our biology 331 term lab report was due the week of March 14th.....I had totally forgotten about it being due so soon! Needless to say, I flipped out. The only thought running through my head was, "I'm going to die! This is the end!"

You see, I was already mentally gearing up for two weeks of a life that would not be my own =P The first week, I had a midterm, a journal-style lab due and two assignments, one of which took me around 10 hours to do. The next week I had three midterms, some dealing with material I had no clue about, and this was closely followed by another journal-style lab...now add this term report on top of things? No way!

Another thing was my baptism. I knew that this was a step that MUST be taken now, because I had been putting it off much much too long. And yet, somehow I had to write down my Life Story, prepare Alpha notes, attend a baptism class....my head was spinning just thinking about it.

Now here it is: March 16th. This is the ill-fated day when my biology 331 lab is due, in less than 4 hours. And here I am, calmly eating breakfast and writing this blog entry. How is this possible, you may ask?

Truly, God came through for me in a big way, supporting me every step of the way these past two weeks. In a way, I am very grateful I had to go through this. Through it all (except for my initial freak-out), I never felt stressed about the humungous load I was carrying...because it wasn't ME who was carrying it, but God who kept re-filling me up on His Holy Spirit. He helped me overcome the tiredness that accompanied my sickness...and I got even more than I bargained for. Not only did I get through it, unscathed and unstressed, but it feels like God has helped me retrieve the focus that I thought I lost when I came to university.

There is so much to be grateful for! Besides this miracle in my life, I am thankful for the opportunity to get baptized at Community fellowship, with so many friends to encourage me, my cousin and his wife who came to our church for the first time, and watching God speak to other people who came to watch through the service! Indeed, we serve a living God...a God who heals! I don't know how many of you reading know about Mrs. Armstrong? Well I have some super-duper news for you! Keep up your praying because her bone marrow transplat was cancelled!! Why? Because she suddenly and unexplainably started responding positively to the chemotherapy. Praise God for surrounding this family with His love!

So, is this the end or a new beginning? I see today as a day FULL of new beginnings...of new-found focus, new found miracles, new adventures in sharing God's love. Maybe today be a day of new beginnings for you as well!