It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

So, two things to start off with: 1-I suppose I kinda stole my title from the opening of a tail of two cities, which I have never read, btw, and 2-there's an extra dot after the word times in the title (you are now looking there to check :p) thus either making that not a true ellipses, or an ellipses with a period after it. Why? you ask, I don't know. But either way, neither of those two points have anything to do with what I am about to write about, except for the fact that they both reference the title which is indeed what I am going to write about. I just that they were slightly interesting I guess. But I digress...(that's 3)

I guess I should start off by saying that I'll probably make this a 2-parter for 2 reasons (I'm using a lot of deuces tonight...hmm) The first is that what I am about to write about would be entirely too long, and the second is a combination of the facts that it would take too long to write in one sitting and I haven't fully figured out all that I will write, and since this is all stream of conciousness, it would prob get confusing (is that still considered 2?) Anyhow, I guess I should prob at some point say what the title refers to (boy am I glad this is not a formal english paper, for many reasons, but that can be for another day). It was the best of times, it was the worst of times refers to this past school year. There, I let the cat out of the bag. (I'm allergic to cats so that prob wasn't the best idea)

But I suppose the way I'll "organize" this is to write about finals week of this semester in this entry, and write about the rest of the year in the next entry. Who knows? I might split it up into 3 entries because God was doing a lot to set me up for this semester, but He also did a lot to set me up for finals week of this semester. Ok, so here's the thing, it totally makes no sense for me to go backward now that I think about it because there's a lot of "lead-up" that occurs, but the Holy Spirit is kinda still reminding me of things that happened last semester and pointing out present connections, and since finals week just happened it's freshest in my mind. If you read the next 1 or 2 posts, you should be able to figure everything out though. Wow, this is long, I should probably get to the point.

So, finals week...wow. I'll start by saying I'll try to address each of the things I mention in this in my next entry to show how God intricately was working. I'll leave myself some hints, which you'll prob figure out, just so I won't forget what I was going to say about it.

I had 6 finals over the course of 4 days. They were "broken up" (or lack thereof...) as follows: Wed- Microbiology and Genetics lab, Thursday-Agecon, Friday Chemistry and Genetics, and Saturday-Chemistry lab. I went into the week with an attempted plan of study which I learned as a result of events of this year, and I determined that I was going to keep a positive attitude. Monday after a gross lack of sleep and making virtually no progress in chemistry or microbiology, I nearly felt completely defeated but then I remembered the truth that there is victory in Jesus and I willed that I would not be defeated. Monday I decided to trust in God to help me catch up on all that I was behind on. Since He invented time and the universe and all, I figured He, who also created microbiology, could certainly help me get through 31 lectures of microbiology. (I had 41 and I'd only gotten through 10 thus far). Monday night I just told God that I needed His presence because with His Presence comes peace and rest. He completely flooded me with His peace that night, competely restored my mind for the next day and helped me get through 25 lectures by 7 the next evening in time for the communion service. I also continually spoke Philippians 4:6,7 and 1 Peter 5:7 so that I could actually hear the truth. There were also personal things going on in my life to add to the pressure but that will be further discussed next time. Anyhow, God continued to do things and have different people speak into my life during this time. I had two friends give me scriptures that were also helpful as well as encouraging: James 1:5 and Psalms 29.11. Thanks to all of you who did for that btw, it meant a lot. I guess since it's late and this is already heinously long, I'll end on this note, which in a way will be a nice lead-in to next time. Throughout this entire week, I kept thinking back to a corporate prayer meeting we had about a month prior (if that) and it was about how God puts trials in our life to strengthen our faith in Him. I feel like that prayer meeting was God's way of prepping me for the situations that I'm facing now. I'm thankful that when I'm weak, He is strong. (that pt alone warrents its own post)

Well, I'm sorry that was so long...until next time, May the peace and joy of our loving Savior Jesus Christ be with you. :)

Signing off with the other lol. <3