I really should be better at this by now

Hello again,

I just want to start off by saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry I don't update this as much as I said I would and that the layout is laughingly bare...still. I aim to do better this semester and post a couple times a week so check back for my progress. I cannot promise that it will always make you smile, or giggle, or marvel at my non-existent writing skills, but I shall post! It might just be a picture, but hey, pictures are cool right so that will be okay.

Anyhoo - to re-cap winter break, it went like this:

GO GO GO PARTY GO GO GO FOOD GO GO TOO MUCH FOOD GO GO PARTY GO GO STOP! relax, rest, sleep, repeat and finally feel refres-START SEMESTER AGAIN!

That is honestly how it went, and it usually does that too - with tons of things to do before Christmas, fun things like parties with Challenge and family, and then driving all around LA delivering gifts for my Dad (in the RAIN - 9 hours, I counted) and then it was blissfully over after Christmas and I got to relax, shop and sleep which was pretty much the best part.

How did God work in my life during the aforementioned break? Well, He first made me continue to lean on Him as my rheumatoid arthritis (doesn't that sound like a great evil doctor genius name? "Oh NO!! Here comes the evil doctor genius Dr. Rheumatoid-Arthritis!!") came back sooner than last time, and this *after* we had increased my medication dosage!



It has been slowly but steadily coming back now since August of last year, showing signs at 6 weeks, 5.5 weeks and then 4 weeks this past break. I checked the calendar when I was starting to feel more signs and I thought surely it must be at least 6 weeks by now, but nope! Exactly at the 4 week mark, the Wednesday before Christmas. So that has been another intense lesson in leaning on God 100% because I literally cannot get through a day on my own strength and energy. Like the title of this blog, His strength is my strength and He gave me what I needed when I needed it! Yes, there were and are still times of pain and wondering "why God? why now? Why is this stupid thing back??" but the thing is, I trust that God knows *exactly* what He is doing. That even though I do not understand it or like it, I have 2 choices: 1) get increasingly bitter and angry over my lot in life and thus give up on God because what kind of god allows this OR 2) continue to walk with God because I know that He will give me what I need and the tools to deal with this thing in the best way. No-brainer really. Yes, I'd like to be all Wonder-Woman (or old-school Batman, because Batman is amazing) and just KA-POW this evil doctor genius in the face and watch it die, but I can't really do that, with or without God's help because that is UNREALISTIC. Fun to think about though...there could be a short comic series in that.



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Oh, so how about right now? What is God teaching me? So glad you asked! He is teaching me about faithfulness and diligence through one of my newest favorite characters in the Bible - Joshua. I am reading through Joshua right now and holy MOLY that guy is awesome!!! He does what is asked of him, he obeys completely and does not question God's orders, even and especially when they are super weird. Example of this is when God tells Joshua to overthrow the city of Jericho, but not the normal "fight! fight! fight!" way, but by marching around the city walls once a day for six days, and on the 7th day to walk around it 7 times, have their priests blow their trumpets and the walls will miraculously fall down and they'll be able to waltz right into the city and take it. Now, Joshua is a fighting man, and this seems pretty ODD instructions, but he doesn't question it nor does he delay in obeying it! He does everything *exactly* as God told him and VOILA!! the walls came down and they took the city!! You can read more about it in Joshua 5-6, it's pretty awesome.

In fact, the verse I'm memorizing this week is Joshua 11:15 which says, "As the Lord commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses."

He did everything he was asked, and did it with excellence. That is why he is fastly becoming one of my favorite characters in the Bible - he knows what needs to be done and he does it, with excellence. That is a pretty good example to follow.

Hokay, my hands are a little sore from all this writing, but I shall leave you with this, the funny of the day to make you laugh, because laughing is awesome and extends your life right?