Reminders

For the summer I'm living in a lovely home with a nice family of three and I'm really loving it. Christine and Brian are very sweet and have opened up their home so generously to me. Their daughter Madison, who is 9, has been fun to get to know. The house is mellow and quiet most of the time and I quite enjoy it.

But as the hours go by and the night gets later and later, the quietness of this home is broken by the desperate cries of a terrified nine year old, no doubt jarred awake by an undeserved horrific nightmare. This I can relate to. The thought of my young years of tear stained pillows and hours of hiding under blankets shaking from fear is almost too much to bear on this cold night. I now look back on those years from a distant future and remember when I used to hope and wish that I could just grow up and all of this would go away. And it has, and I have grown up, and everything is different. I do not dare to say that I am completely fearless now but I do not allow for satan to steal my joy, steal my peace, and ESPECIALLY steal my sleep (I, an overwhelmed college student, regard my sleep to be of the highest importance.)

Tonight is a night of quiet introspection of a life transformed, a girl into a woman, and a new outlook on life. And, most significantly the understanding of who I am in Christ and who the puny little enemy is. That enemy doesn't stand a chance against the God I serve, the God who lives in me, the God who is intimately woven into every area of my life. Yeah, that God.
The God who saved me from my desperation and brought me into appreciation for His mighty works and grace, and peace, and strength, and the list goes on and on as the minutes go by faster and faster while I write this with dropping eyelids and a mind that's fading quickly. I must call it a night and go to bed and drift off to sleep in peace with a smile on my face. No fear, no anxiety, because tonight I know who I serve and I know who I am.