The last day of school was last Friday. I still can't believe it's finally summer. Junior year went by so quickly and it was one tough year. Today I spent an hour reading through my journal from junior year. I actually picked up journaling when I came back from Mexico. Most of the times, it would just be my prayers being written out. I would recommend journaling to anyone. It's always good to look back at it and sometimes it helps me when I don't even know how I feel. Anyways, as I read through my struggles and victorious, I realized that everything I did was through God. All the glory goes to God. At certain times, I was struggling so hard but God brought me victorious through it all. As I read through the struggles I had, I couldn't help smiling and laughing because of the end results. God knew the ending but I didn't. In hindsight, I saw my worries were futile. There were no reasons for me to be worried throughout junior year. For the future, I want to tell myself "Stop worrying. Did you just see what Jesus did? He loves you and he knows the best for you. You don't have to worry about anything. He has the best plan for you."
My junior year did not begin the way I planned it. Due to a schedule conflict, I wasn't able to take orchestra the way I wanted to, but got intro to photo first period. Surprisingly, I learned so much from it. I always heard that photo was the easiest class and you don't learn anything from it, but I beg to differ. I learned incredible amounts of information such as rule of thirds and leading lines. I definitely agree with the former part though- photography was so easy. All the tests were open-computers and so simple. I'm so thankful that I had it first period; my day began 45 minutes later than everyone else's day.
Then a month after school started, I had a random change in my schedule. I was moved from my 3rd period calculus class to 8th period. I really think there was no reason for me to have changed classes, but I'm extremely thankful because throughout the year, 3rd period had all the hard tests. I think my grades in calculus definitely reflect how gracious God is. It makes me smile whenever I think about how God provided a problem that I knew how to do on almost every single test.
I'm so thankful that I didn't get sick often this year. That is amazing considering all the things I did this year.
I'm incredibly thankful for the leadership position God gave me in TLC this year. Looking back on everything, I learned:
1) You have to pray. Praying is not something that you resort to when all else fails because if God's presence isn't there, then there's nothing. It's important to know what's on God's heart. It's also important to continually pray - for TLC, members, etc.
2) It's not easy working with other people. It was hard in the beginning but as the year went by, we truly became a team!
3) Although the outcome is not wholly dependent on the amount of input, the amount of effort you put it into planning meetings matters.
4) It's all about Jesus. Everything we do has to revolve around Him. Praise, discussions, messages, etc.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Proverbs 16:3).
When the year began, my Bible study teacher told me to pick a key verse for the school year. I had no idea what to choose, but I kept seeing this verse so I chose it. After a few weeks, this verse even came in the mail! It was for a Christian college or something, but it was so strange that this verse was on it. Anyways, that's how I knew that God really wanted me to hold onto this verse. God is definitely the victorious God! I claimed this verse for my tests and basically everything I did this past year. (:
I really liked Aug's message yesterday. Looking back on the year, I realize that there's really no reason for my worry about the future but sometimes I get caught up in a pool of worries. It was on Matthew 6:19-33.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
I was actually thinking about this passage before Aug gave the message. The last weeks of school made me think about this passage and challenged who or what I was living for. Though painful, I had to think about that once again. Who am I living for? What am I living for? The obvious answer would be Jesus, but does my life reflect that? There's been so many distractions lately, but no excuses! Once again, I need to focus my eyes solely on Jesus.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry, about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Matthew 6:25).
I don't have to worry about my future. I don't have to worry about what colleges I will be going to, what career I'm going to have, what I'm going to do in the summer, or anything. God doesn't want me to worry because he has a better plan than any plan I can have for myself. His way is the best way. I know it's easy to get worried, but don't because if you trust God, he will definitely take care of you - your future career, husband/wife, where you live, etc.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
This is one of my favorite verses. This should be my life key verse. It was my key verse a few years ago and ever since then, I've been learning more and more what it means. This is a true promise. I've seen it over and over in my life. If you seek God first, he will provide everything you need!
Now I need to trust God with Mexico because I know he will provide everything in the end. God is really funny.
I need to finish my resume, but I really don't want to. It takes too much effort, haha.
I never wrote on the three topics I was going to write on after that essay...oh well.
All the glory belongs to God. (:
Oh, and I started the 30 day photography challenge! I don't know if I'm going to work around Grace Retreat and Mexico, but I'll see when they come!
Day 1:
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