By Mindi Wafford, Vice President of Spiritual Life
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” John 10:9-11
Finding this restful pasture in the midst of the hardest semester I have had yet has been one of the biggest challenges of my college experience to date. I have tried to juggle late nights of homework followed by full days of friends, meetings, obligations and more homework. The cycle has only seemed to get more difficult to break as anything I have not accomplished the day(s) before tacks itself onto the next. But truly God did not send his beloved Son for my consumption of tasks.
I would not consider myself a busy person, nor one who tends to “get stressed out,” but these past weeks have made me feel full of stress and pressure. It felt like I could never come to a conclusion at the end of the day because the work never seemed to end. Not only, though, was the work never-ending, but the constant feeling of things going wrong at home and relational distance also captured the back of my mind.
[column size=two_third position=first ]So finally I gave up trying to get rid of the stress. One day, with only half an hour before class, I chose to spend that time to stop, silence my thoughts, and read the promises in Scripture as I gave God all I had. Holy Spirit then filled me with such peace. In that moment He showed me that giving Him control meant posturing my heart to rest in His promises. God will never leave nor forsake us. He is faithful and intended only for good. Listen to the words of Job who had every reason to complain, but held fast to the promise of abundant life from our Good Heavenly Father:
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside… for he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.” Job 23:8-14
He taught me life is not about the circumstances, but the posture of my heart. Even if it takes letting go of ten minutes to pause from life and refocus on Jesus, it is worth it. I truly believe we can never be too busy to stop for the King of Kings whose love can never be stopped.[/column]
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I truly believe we can never be too busy to stop for the King of Kings whose love can never be stopped.
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Now, if I am overwhelmed, I am a child who runs to her Father and asks for His help. Even when I cannot find anything to thank Him for, I know I can thank Him that I still have life.
So when I see the list of to-do’s, I remember I am grateful for Asbury, for knowledge, for clothes to wash, for mugs to drink my coffee in, for quiet mornings, and for the fact that Jesus chose to give me grace, even when I take for granted my life that costed him his
