Power.

Isaiah 40:26 says:
     Lift up your eyes on high
     And see who has created these stars,
     The One who leads forth their host by number,
     He calls them all by name;
     Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
     Not one of them is missing.

That's power!  I sometimes get frustrated and even angry because doctors can't figure out what's wrong with me.  BUT I have a Father who not only has the power to find out what's wrong with me but to fix it!  If He can take care of the stars, how much more can He take care of me?  A headache is nothing to a God who created the stars.

Ninth graders.

I have to do 50 observation hours at the local high school this semester.  Needless to say, I'm spending nearly all of my free time there--or what was supposed to be free time.  I've been in a 9th grade English I class.  Here are a few things I've learned.

• According to ninth graders, I'm very stylish.
• Ninth graders have no imagination.
• All ninth graders think they're funny.  Only 2% actually are.
• If you ever want to make a ninth grader mad, talk about his mama.

Rest assured.

Life has been busier the past couple of weeks than it has in a long time.  It's so bad I've forgotten to eat a few times.  I would have forgotten to breathe if it weren't involuntary. 

Sometimes I worry that I've taken on too much and that I'm only hurting myself.  My little head needs a break sometimes.  But every time I get to a point where I feel like I absolutely cannot go on, my Father reminds me of who's really in control.  I know, without a doubt, that I'm exactly where He has placed me.  I know He has plans for my life.  It doesn't matter if I don't know how I'm going to make it through tomorrow, much less the semester or year; He knows. 

A dear friend sent me a link to a sermon this week that was a huge encouragement to me.  It was about Jesus's temptation in the wilderness.  The pastor made the point that the Lord takes people (even Jesus) through hard places in order to prepare them for places of great influence.  Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted right before He began His history-changing ministry.  The Lord did not send Him out before taking Him through the wilderness.  Moses had to run away from his home and live in a foreign land before the Lord sent Him to set the Israelites free.  David did not become king until he had been chased by Saul for years.

My life right now is far less than ideal.  It isn't easy.  But I can take comfort in the fact that the Lord has purposefully placed me here and that He's taking me through it for a reason.  I don't know what God is preparing me for.  I don't know what plans He has for my life.  But I can rest assured that He is, in fact, preparing me, and He does, in fact, have plans.

Here's a link to the sermon if you're interested.  It's the one from 9/12/10 by Bryan Loritts.  http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/fellowship-memphis-sermon/id300452284