back to school.ring the bell.

this week is closing out quickly, and soon it will be monday--my first day of a new set of classes. when i look back to the beginning of the week, i could not say that the week would end up being this happy and joyous.

so i begin classes monday, as i have mentioned previously in this post and in other posts. yep, it's that time again--a new semester! i am getting very excited, yet i know that it won't all be fun and games. but it happens to me every autumn--i become very excited by the anticipation of the season and a whole new set of classes to set my mind on. i am very excited about my french class! my teacher is very sweet and just adorable! i have a feeling i am going to love that class. and as i go through each french class, it means one step further toward fluency. i have a feeling these english classes are going to be a whole new ball field. they will be challenging and inspiring, which can be exciting. so, a new semester awaits me on monday morning, and at one of the most beautiful campuses on alabama soil.

"alma mater ever glorious, seeking right and freedom's way, raise a beacon high to guide us; shed thy light afar, we pray, sons and daughters sing thy praises; steadfast virtues win thee fame. may the years be rich and fruitful; truth and honor crown thy name."

at the end of myself, at the end of the day, i can find little else but the courage to say i need You.

this is my last week of the summer, and i can only hope i don't waste my last few days. i am habitual of procrastinating. but i will try to my hardest to seize the days i have left, and just have fun!! so far this week, i have had an excellent sunday going to church and learning practical things about my faith and growing closer to the lord, and have practically made my monday go to waste, except for my usual bowling monday night with friends. sadly yesterday i didn't really read anything, nor really wrote anything. i suppose that's what this tuesday is for! today is a new day!! i filled out an application for a scholarship today, but do not know if i will submit it, considering i have to have an essay and two letters of recommendation from faculty members along with the application, and have it submitted by september 15!! that's a few weeks away, and i beginning classes next monday. i have also taken other things into consideration too. i have a feeling that they prefer that the recipient be an advertising/marketing/journalism major, even though it says the scholarship includes english majors.

i must say that i am getting excited about next week--a new college campus & new professors to get well acquainted with. there is just something so intriguing about that rickety old brick road, that makes a smile on my face appear. i know that this transition in my life will not be a glittering experience every moment, but i know it will be for the good. homework awaits me in the new week and months ahead!

i am currently wanting to buy the new leeland album love is on the move (which came out today!) and the new regina spektor album far. will i buy either or both, that i cannot say will happen. i am stuck on leeland's song "love is on the move." i cannot stop listening to it.

when life had begun, i was woven and spun.

i should be offended, broken, & hurt right now, but i am not. i know i feel somewhat disappointed but somehow i have managed to look up and realized that God knows what is happening to me. He understands my doubt and my heart. somehow in the midst of my pain and confusion, i have decided to bless instead of curse. trust instead of doubt. love instead of hate. humbly come instead of fall in my pride. & pray instead of worry. i believe charles spurgeon wrote it best; "in our hours of bodily pain & mental anguish, we find ourselves as naturally driven to prayer as the wreck is driven upon the shore by the waves. faith, then, we choose, rather than doubt, as the mainspring of our life." in my peril i look to the Lord my Savior and Friend Jesus Christ and trust Him wholly, knowing that there is none else i can turn to and talk to so deeply and closely. prayer is the food that is needful for me, and how much i fail to understand that. Christ has taken hold of my heart and caused me to remember that there is no reason for me to be angry or disappointed by anything that has caused me heartache. blessed should i be when i face troubles, because thine is His glory! ranier maria rilke once wrote, "she who reconciles the ill-matched threads of her life, and weaves them gratefully into a single cloth- it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall and clears it for a different celebration where the One guest is You." from the moment my life began, the Lord was weaving my "cloth" into who I am, creating a unique masterpiece. that reminds me much of corrie ten boom's example of the tapestry. on the outside i looked like a beautiful and perfect tapestry, but underneath, deep inside, i was a complete tangled mess of threads until Christ took me and untangled the threads of my life and made me beautiful inside. He made me into His tapestry. "so i put aside the masquerade and admit that i am not okay, which may not be the thing to say, but i'm not ashamed to need You more each day." - nichole nordeman

"when anger fills your heart,when in your pain and hurt, you find the strength to stop, you bless instead of curse.when doubting floods your soul, though all things feel unjust,you open up your heart,you find a way to trust." - sara groves

earl grey and my nearest thoughts..

As I sit here sipping my tea, I can think of only one thing that comes to my mind--last weekend. Good came out of bad. My heart was stirred. My thoughts were changed. My feelings were encouraged and brightened. Although things turned somewhat sour towards the end, God took things and turned them around, and He used them for His glory and singly used them in my life to change my heart. As of a result, I felt a closeness to Christ as I sat there under the sky proclaiming His handiwork and greatness. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and stars proclaim his handiwork."- Pslam 19