Another Sabbath is over . . . and another week is beginning. The Colorado sun never came out from behind the clouds today here in Pueblo, but there was still sunshine in my heart :) Sabbath is always an amazing day especially with such an awesome church family! The afternoon was spent making music, a small orchestra playing hymns . . . one violin, two recorders, and a piano. Oh how much fun though :)
I realized not too long ago that it has been well over a year since I last updated this blog site. Shame on me!!!!! So much has happened too! My last blog had me heading to back to Union, and now I find myself in Colorado! I don't know how many people actually read this blog, but in case anyone wonders how or why I'm here, just keep reading. If you already know, well, keep reading anyways, you might learn something ;) Seriously, though, God has done some amazing things in my life in the past year and I cannot doubt that His hand is leading!
While at Union from Aug. of '08 to May of '09, I looked at several different nursing school options. I finally decided that I would attend South Dakota State University Accelerated Nursing Program because I figured that would be close to my parents, who were still living in South Dakota at the time. However, February of '09 came around and lo and behold, my parents and brother and sister-in-law all decided to move to Albuquerque, NM. Not too surprising for them to be moving again, but it threw a wrench in my plans because I wanted to be as close to home as possible. The closest accelerated nursing program I could find was in Pueblo, CO. The other option was Las Cruces, NM. I applied to both programs. I preferred the one in Pueblo, though, just because it was located close to mountains! But their application deadline was clear back in October, so I did not expect to get in . . . but God had a surprise for me! They called me within four days and told me that I was accepted!!!!
The program started the day after I graduated from Union, so no summer break for me! The first semester was incredibly hectic with up to 4 exams per week, every week. But God's strength was sufficient and I made it through :) The second semester was even harder than the first because not only did we have a full class schedule, but we also had three clinicals weekly, totaling nearly 30 hours/week when we could not study. By the time Christmas vacation rolled around, I was desperately needing the month off! But through it all God has remained constant . . . His promises are sure . . . and He has provided many opportunities to witness to my classmates. It has been a very interesting experience attending a non-Adventist university for the first time. My classmates can tell that I'm different, but most of them really respect and even appreciate the differences. They admire the fact that I stand for what I believe in . . . that I won't do school or clinicals on Sabbath . . . they don't understand, but they respect it. In fact, when they plan parties or get-togethers, they often try to plan them so that they can invite me . . . ie. games at someone's house rather than going out to the bar.
I'm now in my third semester . . . only one more to go after this :) My church family here has been absolutely amazing! I never go home to spend my Sabbath alone after church . . . they won't let me! They consider me as part of their family and treat me as a daughter or grand-daughter. Its so amazing to have such a supportive family here!
So, the next question I often here is "so what do you plan to do when you get done?" Guess . . . go to the mission field of course! At this point it appears that God is leading me to Bolivia. There are still mountains that need to be moved, but in faith I have asked God to move them and I'm certain that He will in His own time. I praise Him so much because He is faithful to fullfill His promises to me . . . not only to finish the work He has begun in my life, but also to prepare me and fit me for His service. We serve such an amazing God!
Today there was discussion after lunch about popularity . . . one friend said that he was not popular, not at all. The others in the group agreed . . . I didn't. I am popular . . . maybe not by this world's standards . . . but the King of the universe knows my name . . . the entire universe is watching my life with intense interest and is rooting for me . . . hoping I will choose life and not death . . .therefore I am very popular! God Himself takes an interest in my life! And friends, He takes an interest in your life too! We are all popular with God . . . He WANTS to spend time with us . . . to share His heart and mind with us . . . WOW! WHAT AN AWESOME GOD!
