Never Alone

It's been so long since I've written.  At least five days. :)

I had an insanely busy weekend...homework, housework, spending time with my hubby and family and friends.  And since yesterday afternoon I haven't been feeling well.  I've been drinking a lot of tea, trying to combat the gunk-filled, itchy, scratchy throat and a cough.  And taking painkillers for the headache and aches.

But I miss writing, and I need to write.  Not that I care so much about the pageviews.  I know I'll share this and people will read.  You always do, and thank you.  But I need to write.  To get in the written, or typed, word what's in my mind.

I had a long talk with my friend Stephanie today.  And before that I had a talk with a favorite professor.  And before that class with another great prof.  All three things had something in common: they reminded me that I'm not alone.  That I'm not in this crazy thing called life by myself.

Let me explain.  In my first class today ("Exile to Christ," a history course covering that period in history), we were talking about the things that Christians in the early church, and even Jews in the time before Christ lived, went through.  Things like wondering when the Messiah would come, and for the Christians, wondering when He would come back.  Things like trying to live according to God's laws.  Things like fighting against the ways of the world, because the ways of the world are so different from our ways.  What we as Christians experience today, this minute, is no different than what Christians have been experiencing for hundreds of years.

After my second class, I stayed behind to talk to my professor for a little bit.  I forget how the conversation started, but we talked about struggles we've had, and that we've witnessed in others.  How he struggled with depression without knowing that he even had it.  How I had to fight a life-affecting phobia in high school.  How a beloved friend of mine struggled with her self-image.  And my professor and I talked about how we had loved ones who helped us through those hard times.  For him, it was a psychologist friend who realized that my professor had depression.  For me, it was Joshua who helped me fight the phobia till it's now almost gone.  And more than anything, it was our faith in Christ that got us through.

Then my friend Stephanie and I were working together at the library.  And we started talking about our faith, struggles we've had, things we've learned, ways God has taught us and brought us closer to him in the last few years.  And we realized how much we have in common, and she and I were able to encourage each other and just listen.  She's a good listener. :)

Tonight our dear friends Ruth and Joe came over with yummy snacks and a great movie, to keep sick little me company while Joshua was at work.  It was exactly what I needed.

In so many ways, God has revealed himself to me.  So many people have been Christ to me throughout my life.  They have been his hands, his arms, his smile, his voice.  God has chosen to love me through other people.  Through them I know that God takes care of me.  That he is always near me.  That he is watching over me, and that he has my life, my self, my soul in his hands.  That he has been working in everything in my life for my good and his glory.

"Never will I leave you," Jesus told his disciples.  "Never will I forsake you."
He hasn't.  He won't.