The Problem with my "To Do" List

On Friday evening as I was driving home from a day of work at UCLA (and by driving I mean sitting in traffic), I suddenly felt extremely tired and like I really just wanted to curl up somewhere and hibernate for the next few months. As I began to think through everything that needed to be accomplished between then and the next time I would be making that drive (which is next Friday), I suddenly realized how overwhelming it all was. I came away from that car ride having learned two valuable lessons. First, don't think about your "to do" list when you can't do anything about it. Second, when you very first start thinking that your list might be more than you can handle, realize that that is absolutely an accurate assessment, and start praying that God will give you the strength you need to accomplish everything He has planned for you. Unfortunately, like a lot of my lessons, this one was learned in retrospect. I'm so thankful that God is continually teaching me and allowing me to learn the lessons He has for me. Truthfully I didn't learn these lessons until I was sitting in church this morning, and literally cried as I confessed to God that once again I had attempted to strike out on my own rather than relying on Him. I've decided the verse I want to memorize during my drives this week is I Thessalonians 5:16-18, in which Paul says, "Rejoice always; praying without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I especially like how it's not sometimes or in some things, but always and in everything. What an incredible and necessary reminder.:o)

On another note, I had another wonderful weekend with my parents who had come down for Kate's last Saturday home game. We made some fun memories and had a terrific time together. I've included some photos from the last two weekends below. I would also really appreciate all of your prayers for this week. I have three midterms in addition to my usual clinical and work schedule, so it's a good thing that I can trust that God will provide my strength. Lots of studying, reading, memorizing, and perhaps a little sleeping to do, so I don't anticipate posting again until next weekend. I hope you are all having a wonderful and blessed Sunday, and Lord-willing I will be able to catch up with some of you once my first round of midterms are behind me.

Kate warming up before the game.

Hanging out with our very own soccer star after the game.

The hospital where I work.

My dad and I in the obligatory sign picture.

My mom and I in front of the main entrance.

Celebrating my 21st birthday early with my parents. (They gave me some clothes, a camera card reader, and "Let the Nations Be Glad" a book about world missions by John Piper (admittedly my favorite gift:o)).

Answered Prayers

I finally got around to doing a little organization of my desk the other day, and ran across a post-it note on which I had listed several prayer requests that others had given me. I smiled and took a moment to think about each of them. It was a fairly old list, so of course there had been new developments in each of them. My mom's health was on the list, and as many of you know she has since had a procedure done and is no longer experiencing any of the symptoms she had been having. Katie's adjustment to college had been answered with many new friends and some adventures of our own. A friend's difficulty with a class in school was answered with her not only passing the class, but graduating as well! Another friend had been having some health issues, and is now starting to feel better and able to do more of the things she loves. One friend had asked for prayer for a pamphlet they were working on, and have since finished it and blessed and encouraged more people than I think even they hoped it would.

So after reading these and seeing how God had chosen to answer each of the requests, I realized that although not all of them had been answered exactly the way I thought they should, they had all been answered. Some of the answers might not have been what I would have thought of, but they all exceeded my expectations and reminded me of how thankful I am that God is sovereign and I am not. He answered each request in a manner that is according to His plans and for His glory. The more time I spend in prayer, the more thankful I am that I can go to Him at anytime and for any reason. The God of the universe desires that I talk to Him. This struck me as I was reading in Psalms yesterday and read 18:6 where David says, "In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." Pretty incredible, huh?

Time with family at Souplantation last weekend.

Sibling time...some of us were pretty excited about the kid cones...:o)

The First 12 Hours

I have quite a bit to accomplish before I head for bed tonight, but I really wanted to do a quick post on my first day at UCLA since I know several of you have been praying earnestly for me. It was AMAZING! Truly, I was able to see God's graciousness and goodness toward me all day long. I learned more than I could ever have imagined could be learned in one shift, and was able to retain a good portion of it. The twelve hours honestly flew by, and in spite of the concern I had about the length ahead of time, I couldn't believe it was over when 7pm came around. Yet another reminder that worry is sin, and I can absolutely do without it.:o) My preceptor was a terrific CNA, and she was incredibly patient with me. Speaking of patient, I had several really great patients who were also very understanding. A couple of them actually found out that it was my first day toward the end of my shift, and said they were really surprised as I'd done a wonderful job and had seemed to know what was going on. Praise God! Next Monday I am orienting in Pediatric unit, which I am SOOOO excited about. I have been looking forward to spending time in a Peds unit since before I started college, so I am thrilled to be going there in a few days. I could use your prayers for this next week, as I anticipate a few sleepless nights between working 24 hours and having some tests and clinicals. I spent some time in prayer today, and was reminded that God can work in and through me for His glory despite my fleshly complaints of exhaustion or being overwhelmed. I know He will carry me through this next week if I go to Him as my source of strength. Speaking of which, I was really wanting to find a verse that I could go to this week when I was feeling like curling up in a ball somewhere, and I stumbled across Colossians 1:9-12. It says, "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." This verse is packed full of so many wonderful reminders, but I was especially encouraged by Paul's reminder to the Colossians that he is praying that they will do all of this "according to His glorious might." Praise God that we can accomplish all He has ordained for us to do through His power. Well I'm off to do some reading and studying. Thank you all so very much for your prayers and encouragement!

A picture of my UCLA uniform on my first day of work.

As you can see my scrub top says "UCLA Health System Care Partner." (Don't I look so excited to have woken up before 5am?:o)

10 Reasons Why...

I have decided to do a blog of 10 reasons why I'm thankful for my schedule. I was prompted to post on this topic because I have gotten about 2 hours of sleep each of the last two nights, and have been praying that the Lord would give me a content and thankful heart rather than the ugly and complaining one my sinful nature tends toward in these situations. Not surprisingly He has been faithful, and when my alarm went off 2 hours after I had climbed into bed for the second morning this morning, He allowed me to not only hear the alarm (which many people can attest to the fact that this in itself is a huge deal) but also to wake up feeling somewhat refreshed and ready for the day. I stumbled to the bathroom, and spent some time in prayer as I showered. The day and clinical were somewhat successful, and I am so thankful to the Lord for sustaining me and giving me the strength to accomplish all that was needed. So, here is the list I compiled in the car today. As you will see, it's a mixture of some funny and wonderful things I have experienced (although it may no longer be quite so funny after I get a full night of sleep tonight...).

1. When you leave your house before the sun comes up, you have the incredible experience of watching the sun rise while you drive to clinical. It always brings a smile to my face and is a wonderful start to my morning. As the first rays of sunlight appear on the horizon, you can't help but praise God for blessing you with yet another day of life.
2. When you leave CSULA at 10 pm you get to see the lights of downtown Los Angeles in a way you never can leaving campus any other time of day.
3. Very few other people truly understand how much fun this schedule can be, so there are almost no cars on the road. Hooray for no traffic!
4. Somewhere around 1 am as your eyes start to cross and you begin to contemplate the fact that you could only possibly receive 1 point maximum for the 27 pages of paperwork you have almost completed, you start to laugh in a way that would probably get you labeled as insane if anyone else was awake to hear you (so it's a good thing they are all in bed:o).
5. When you live with people who have a wonderful sense of humor, it can be fun to hear all of the jokes they come up with about how they have forgotten your name and can't figure out what happened to the girl who was living in the front bedroom.
6. When you pack both a lunch and a dinner you get to decide what foods you eat when, and even have the power to change the menu while you are eating. You also develop a new appreciation for the inventors of the microwave oven and microwave dinners (until you get to your nutrition class...:o).
7. Having scrubs for your uniform means you basically get to wear pajamas from 7 am - 10 pm, and when you get home at 11 pm you really do get to wear your pj's. Yay for being comfy!
8. Ever since my fellow students and I started measuring the quality of a nursing student based on the size of the dark circles under their eyes, I seem to be near the top of my class!
9. With a little bit of preparation the night before, you can climb out of bed and (without opening your eyes) walk with your hands out in the general direction of the kitchen. If you press enough things you can eventually start your coffee without ever really waking up. (The trick to this is to keep your hands out so that your nose is protected when you slam into walls.)
10. At various points during the day you hit "walls" which seem impenetrable. Truthfully, in my own human strength, they are. So the reason I am most thankful for my schedule, is that it provides almost constant reminders of my own inadequacy and my total dependence on God as my source of strength and joy. Thank you Lord for supplying all of my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

Fun picture of the day. I took this at the Long Beach Aquarium this weekend, because my uncle pointed out that the name of the fish (which you can't really read here) is "Sarcastic Fringehead." It made me thankful that my parents went with Emily...

The First Day of Fall

Each year when the first day of fall rolls around, my dad's excitement is contagious. He is of course ecstatic about the falling temperatures, and I am thankful for that as well. I also thought of a few more things to be thankful for on this Thursday (although this list is far from exhaustive). I am thankful for the decrease in gas prices as I increase my driving. I am thankful that my last orientation meeting at UCLA is scheduled for this morning, which means that I will Lord-willing be starting work soon. I am thankful to be starting another quarter of nursing school. I am thankful for God's faithfulness in my life, and that He continues to care for me and convict me of sins despite the ridiculous number of reminders needed. I am thankful for shrinking flip flops. Although that last one may sound a little weird, it's very much true. On the first day of fall I walked out to my car, and discovered that the Old Navy flip flops I had left in there had literally shrunk in the heat (...apparently the weather didn't get the memo about it being the first day of fall). Don't believe me? Here is photo evidence with another pair of my flip flops for comparison.

Anyway, I am thankful for shrinking flip flops because this discovery corresponded to a lesson I recently learned through Elisabeth Elliot's book "Discipline: The Glad Surrender." The last chapter I read was about the discipline of possessions, and she talked about the necessity for Christians to keep from becoming too attached to the things of this world. So when I discovered the shriveled little flip flop in my car, I laughed and was able to say, "Oh well. Guess I didn't really need those." By the grace of God, another lesson learned...for now anyway.:o)

A Remarkable Weekend

If you had asked me Thursday what my plans for the weekend were, I would have told you I didn't have any. If you asked me today what I did this weekend, I would be hard pressed to remember it all!:o) Becky and Justin invited me to go to Biblestudy with them on Friday evening, and then I spent the night at their apartment. We slept in a little bit on Saturday, and then went to breakfast and ran some errands. The rest of the day was spent doing stuff around their house and doing some shopping, and then we went to Master's to pick up Micah and Katie for dinner. We had a lot of fun making pizzas and chatting, and I ended up spending another night at Becky and Justin's after we took Kate and Micah back to school. On Sunday Kate and I went to church together. The sermon was from Luke 23, and Pastor MacArthur talked about the reactions of the people surrounding Jesus on that day. I was struck by just how much was going on around Him, and yet how focused He remained on why He was there. I had a lot of fun with the kids in the nursery during second service, and then Kate and I drove to the Getty Museum to spend some time there for a school project she had. Afterward we went to Diddy Riese, and then spent a few hours studying for a history test she has this week and just enjoying being sisters. I've included a couple of pictures from our adventures below. Overall it was a wonderfully encouraging weekend, and I look forward to my first day of a new clinical tomorrow!

The view from the Getty.

Katie taking time to smell the roses.

Hanging out in the gardens.

Kate and I.

A candid shot.;o)

Katie nearly fell into the creek taking this one, so I felt it just had to be included.:o)

A shot of the waterfall and gardens. Kate and I enjoyed the garden area most of all, and agreed that God is by far the greatest artist of them all.

What I Did During My Summer Vacation

I vaguely remember a time in my life when I was annoyed by the obligatory essay entitled "What I Did During My Summer Vacation." Of course now that the first day of class means I am already behind on reading, have a pop quiz, and am seriously contemplating the sanity of signing up for the class, I sort of miss that easing back into school. Despite the fact that my summer vacation was only 2 weeks long, I managed pack a whole lot into it. The first week I flew up to visit my family, and had such an incredible time with all of them. I had seen them during a couple of weekend visits before that, but it was so nice to just be back home and really enjoying quality time and talks with each of them. The next weekend they brought me back to my aunt and uncle's house, and then they spent the weekend here. My former roommate also came for the weekend, and then convinced me to take a spontaneous trip with her to see people in San Luis Obispo. I'm so glad she did, because I had such a wonderful time seeing old friends and making new ones. We did A LOT, and even managed to complete the last couple of things on my list of "Things to do Before Leaving SLO." Then I came home on the train last Friday, spent all day Saturday at Universal Studios with my aunt and uncle, spent Monday reorganizing my room, went to computer training at UCLA on Tuesday, and hung out with a friend in Laguna Hills yesterday. Yes, all in all, I'd say I was able to do a lot in a little over two weeks! Tonight I start classes, and I'm hoping my last orientation at UCLA will be next week so that I can start working soon! God used this vacation to remind me how blessed I am with wonderful friends and family, and how thankful I am that He is in control of my life and I am not (of course I needed a reminding as I too often find myself forgetting...). He continually demonstrates His sovereignty in my life, and always perfectly orchestrates everything according to His will and for His glory in a way that is so much better than anything I could have imagined. So, bottom line, I am back to school, back at my aunt and uncle's house, back to blogging, back to homework, and (hopefully soon) back to work.

Cassie and I in Hollywood.

Montaña de Oro.

Cass and I.

More Montaña de Oro.

Cass had a little too much fun with the seaweed.:o)

The sun coming through the clouds over the ocean was gorgeous!

The rock cleverly named "The Rock" in Morro Bay.

The waves crashing into the rocks were so beautiful!

Katie, Cassie, and I in Morro Bay.

We successfully climbed Bishop's Peak, and spent some time in prayer at the top. It was amazing!