Pushing through the Pain

Some musings of mine from not that long ago... it's funny to look at this and learn from my insights. And it's snowy out and I was bored so I was reading a lot of what I've been writing the last few months... It's rough work, my pure thoughts.

In the Bible there’s a great analogy using childbirth as an example of what can come from pain. Through pushing through (literally) extreme agony (or so I hear) a mother is rewarded with a child.

There are days when I wonder what else could go wrong. Days when I’m unsure of where to turn, or even if it’s worth getting up for the day. Days in which I know will bring heartache as I stand at the grave of another friend or family member. But I’ve increasingly noticed that those days are also filled with an inexplicable joy. Well, not completely inexplicable, I know who and where I draw my strength from. There’s something amazing about having the right perspective. There’s something amazing that comes through relying on a strength that far outweighs my own. Does this mean that I never experience despair or utter aloneness? Certainly not. But it does mean that I can grasp onto a reality that extends beyond that despair and that reaches out to me through my loneliness.

One day during a moment of deep-seated sadness I did what I know I should always do and turned to my Bible. I felt led to read 1 Peter, which ‘conveniently’ deals much with the issue of suffering. It didn’t take long before the tears started to spring to my eyes as I was reminded in verse three that I have a living hope. Something so simple, yet so important. God gave His life for me so that I could have a constant hope, a hope that doesn’t die, but lives. I often think about clinging to hope, or desperately searching for hope. This verse reminded me that I don’t have to search or cling. I don’t need to cling to hope, God has poured it into my heart (Romans 5) and it is living, not something I have to worry will abandon me or head to the grave.

Not only that, but God has given me purposeful pain. You may be familiar with the process of refining gold. Gold is put into fire in order to make it pure, the impurities within this precious metal float to the surface and are skimmed off. Without the fire, the gold would stay impure. 1 Peter also addresses that exact analogy and goes on further to say that though we can’t see Jesus or be with Him at this exact moment, we can rejoice with an inexpressible joy.

Eating Out

So I was perusing London this weekend and Sunday afternoon I went to an unnamed eating establishment for some good food and good fun.

I picked my meal based on a picture (was an excellent choice) and at the end found out that I got dessert with it! Yum!

I ordered a dessert that was highly recommended by the girl's on either side of me, who I happened to be sharing the dessert with anyway.

When it arrived it did indeed look and smell delicious... here's the fun part, it comes with a sauce that your pour all over the dessert.

I did not listen to the warning bells in my head as I attempted to squeeze the oddly thick sauce onto my dessert. I did however comment to the girls saying, "isn't this sauce kinda thick for dessert sauce." They were too busy drooling over the dessert and just asked me to hurry up and pour it on- so being the obedient girl that I did, I poured it all over.

The best part of the story is that we all took a bite at the same time, including the two boys sitting across the booth from us who had also ordered the same dessert. All I could taste was seasoned butter when I bit into this dessert, and the thought "why on earth do they like this disgusting dessert so much" most definitely crossed my mind.

All of a sudden on of the unnamed girls' comments, "does anyone else taste garlic." We all quickly come to the realization that instead of the dessert sauce it would appear that the kitchen put containers of thick buttery garlic sauce for some sort of garlic bread I hope on our dessert plates.

Needless to say, it made for a good laugh indeed, and a manager came by as we were all squealing about our garlicky dessert and they quickly replaced it, mentioned they wouldn't try that move again, and gave the guy his for free (mine was included in the meal).

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Guelph

As per requested I'm writing another entry...

It has been a good day, I feel like life is moving in a good direction, and I have concluded that someday I will indeed write a book.

I have a map of Guelph and a map for life, so I'm all set for now!

I think tomorrow will be a great day because I get to be on campus all day, woot woot!

Other than my back being in pain, I am quite content.

Perhaps tomorrow I will write a story about my Valentine Day exploits and the hunt for the giant Guelph chicken!

Here She Goes Again...

So I haven't posted in FOREVER... I felt kinda weird after so many randoms were reading my blog.

But Alas, I keep thinking of writing again, so a new blog is probably on the horizon...

For now, just so everyone is clear, I'm moving to Guelph.

His Worship

So it begins...

Last night I watched my dad get sworn in as the 46th (I think) Mayor...

I don't think I'll have much use for his title of His Worship, but I held it together well as I watched with pride as my city got the best Mayor possible for the job.

Congrats Dad... I'm so excited to see the city reborn over the next 4 years!

If my profs could see me now....

While at Western I was often told how important it is to get my work published. At the time, my profs were probably referring to Scientific Journals since my BSc becomes a lot more useful if I have published work. I guess four years of paper writing has paid off, as I now do have something published. Mind you, it's only partial quotes, and it's in a newspaper instead of journal, but you have to start somewhere!

Though I fully understand that blogs are a free for all in a public domain, it's still a little strange to have strangers being directed to my stories and thoughts. For any of my friends who have no clue what I’m talking about, the link to the article is here http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=295724&catname=Local%20News&classif=.

For anyone interested in my profession and why if I'm supposed to be working at Guelph University I'm still in St. Catharines.... as a missionary with a non-profit Christian organization, I have to raise all my own funds to go work full time. If you'd like info on how to help me get there, information on giving is found at http://www.crusade.org/giving/staff.html. If you surf around that site it also has a lot more information on the organization! Feel free to click on comment on this site and let me know if you'd like to talk to me more.

Irony

Has my life changed since becoming the first daughter?

Yes... the local newspaper had never been interested in my blog prior to my new found status...

Life is funny, but I can't complain.