"Is it getting any easier?"

Clash of the Classes Slime Fight went fantastically...but these
dorks were one of the highlights.

What a week. If you were to ask me how I felt loved in the last seven days, I would tell you I felt loved in abundance by so many. If you were to ask me if I loved others well this week...well, I can't be the judge of that, but I would like to be able to answer "yes."

There were times when I sat in silence with my roommate or my friends and simply absorbed the presence of people I love so deeply. Sometimes I struggled to find the motivation to finish the day well, but there was always someone standing there reminding me to push harder. At times, I wanted to shout to the entire campus how much I love my friends...and this urge would quickly be stifled by the intense need to be still and snuggle closer to the ones who make me feel safest in the world.

Funny how that works.

I had deep conversations with people this week. A couple of times, I reconnected with people I hadn't yet talked to for very long this semester. But there were also the late hours spent in the apartment with the women I used to call my neighbors...laughing at Laura's remarks and singing Veggie Tales enthusiastically with Brianne, Emily, and Marisol. Those knowing looks I exchanged with Brianne over a comment only someone who has lived with me could understand; those conversations with Clarissa about, well, anything and everything. And those cat videos...good grief.

Last night many of us gathered for a reunion. There was a point when one of my friends looked at me and quietly inquired how I was handling the differences this year. "Is it getting easier?" she asked. I could honestly say, "Yes." I will never experience sophomore year again, and that is difficult to accept...but that needs to be okay with me. I have never felt as close to some of my 3South family as I do now. I am beginning to build new friendships with people I barely knew last year. I am working with a team on the TENTS film project and God is using that in mighty ways that none of us could have dreamed would come about.

I am not so weary as I was before. There is still an ache and a space in my heart, but my Jesus is filling it. In the midst of this stretching time, I can honestly say that I feel safe. I am not alone. I am not in bondage. I am not abandoned.

How you can pray this week...my schedule is jam-packed for the next couple of weeks, and I allowed it to be that way. But my friends are equally if not more busy than I am, and I want to be there for them. There is sickness all over campus, and it is icky.

The song of the post just fits the condition of my heart tonight. "Let Me Hear" by Great Awakening recently resurfaced in my music radar and I remembered why I was obsessed with this band when I was in high school. Let Him ravish your heart this week. You are loved. You are known.

God loves me, and God's love is enough.