The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever
-Isaiah 40:8
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
-Phil 1:6
This month has been the month for which I have been waiting to come for the past four years. I have officially graduated Eastern University with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. These have been four of the toughest years of my life, and they have also been the most beautiful and the most rewarding. I have seen God's faithfulness every step of the way throughout my life, many times retrospectively, but never so profoundly have I experienced His faithfulness moment by moment as I have during my time at EU, especially these past two years of intense clinical and nursing classes.
Since spending a year working at a children's hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, from 2011 to 2012, I knew that I wanted to be a nurse and work with undeserved populations. It was my dream since then to move back to Central America one day, and that dream is finally coming true. (Note: I have to thank CURE International [cure.org] for welcoming me to work with them for that year, because of them I fell in love with Honduras, and it is beautiful to see how God is working in the lives of thousands around the world through CURE).
With the culmination of my undergraduate studies come many mixed emotions. I want more than anything to begin this next season that I have anticipated for more than four years now, to be a missionary and a nurse and fulfill the passion that God has put in my heart, and there is an inexplainable amount of more excitement on top of that because I know that my boyfriend Kennet is there waiting for me.
At the same time, there is a loss to never again spending time as a nursing student with my nursing pals who have become like sisters to me. I will no longer live with my brother and sister-in-law and watch my little nieces and nephews grow up day to day. I won't be able to go to Bear Creek on the weekends to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law and their four kids, riding quads at the lake or jumping on the trampoline, or riding horses with my sister Mariah. My sister Emily and our best friend Lauren are both becoming moms this month, and to not be able to watch these little ones grow up is a loss to me; my nieces and nephews mean the world to me and it feels like an even greater loss than when I moved away from home after high school and my four younger siblings grew and changed so much, and I felt like I was missing a huge part of my life by missing their lives.
With this biggest change in my life (thus far) happening now, I have been reminded that with the change of seasons there is loss, but there is always something better ahead. To the church in Philippi Paul wrote, "I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Phil 3:14). This is my greatest reminder of what life on earth is about- following God's leading to bring His kingdom to earth and living with eternity in mind. He will always lead us to greater places than we will leave behind. Following Him means to follow peace and no matter what mixed emotions I have with the changing of places I live, the changes of possessions I own- none of that matters. What matters is the fact through everything, God does not change. He is the constant, and throughout all of the change, I must keeping following the constant peace that only He can give us.
In a very scattered and ever-changing world in which most of the time we have no control, feeling like a tiny boat being tossed about in a stormy sea, I want to encourage you to trust in God's faithfulness. Let Him be the anchor for your soul. Don't let the "potentials" or the "what if's" steal your peace from the unknowns of the future. God is our anchor here in this moment, giving us the grace for this moment, and He is faithful to do that in every moment.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations
-Psalm 119:90
-Isaiah 40:8
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
-Phil 1:6
This month has been the month for which I have been waiting to come for the past four years. I have officially graduated Eastern University with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. These have been four of the toughest years of my life, and they have also been the most beautiful and the most rewarding. I have seen God's faithfulness every step of the way throughout my life, many times retrospectively, but never so profoundly have I experienced His faithfulness moment by moment as I have during my time at EU, especially these past two years of intense clinical and nursing classes.
Since spending a year working at a children's hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, from 2011 to 2012, I knew that I wanted to be a nurse and work with undeserved populations. It was my dream since then to move back to Central America one day, and that dream is finally coming true. (Note: I have to thank CURE International [cure.org] for welcoming me to work with them for that year, because of them I fell in love with Honduras, and it is beautiful to see how God is working in the lives of thousands around the world through CURE).
With the culmination of my undergraduate studies come many mixed emotions. I want more than anything to begin this next season that I have anticipated for more than four years now, to be a missionary and a nurse and fulfill the passion that God has put in my heart, and there is an inexplainable amount of more excitement on top of that because I know that my boyfriend Kennet is there waiting for me.
At the same time, there is a loss to never again spending time as a nursing student with my nursing pals who have become like sisters to me. I will no longer live with my brother and sister-in-law and watch my little nieces and nephews grow up day to day. I won't be able to go to Bear Creek on the weekends to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law and their four kids, riding quads at the lake or jumping on the trampoline, or riding horses with my sister Mariah. My sister Emily and our best friend Lauren are both becoming moms this month, and to not be able to watch these little ones grow up is a loss to me; my nieces and nephews mean the world to me and it feels like an even greater loss than when I moved away from home after high school and my four younger siblings grew and changed so much, and I felt like I was missing a huge part of my life by missing their lives.
With this biggest change in my life (thus far) happening now, I have been reminded that with the change of seasons there is loss, but there is always something better ahead. To the church in Philippi Paul wrote, "I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Phil 3:14). This is my greatest reminder of what life on earth is about- following God's leading to bring His kingdom to earth and living with eternity in mind. He will always lead us to greater places than we will leave behind. Following Him means to follow peace and no matter what mixed emotions I have with the changing of places I live, the changes of possessions I own- none of that matters. What matters is the fact through everything, God does not change. He is the constant, and throughout all of the change, I must keeping following the constant peace that only He can give us.
In a very scattered and ever-changing world in which most of the time we have no control, feeling like a tiny boat being tossed about in a stormy sea, I want to encourage you to trust in God's faithfulness. Let Him be the anchor for your soul. Don't let the "potentials" or the "what if's" steal your peace from the unknowns of the future. God is our anchor here in this moment, giving us the grace for this moment, and He is faithful to do that in every moment.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations
-Psalm 119:90
