Bonjour mes amies!
Don't worry, this blog post won't be all in French. I don't know enough French yet to write my own French blog post. Maybe one day... someday.
The snow didn't stay. It melted. But it snowed again! How long will it stay?
Today is my last day at Capernwray for the year of 2011. Hmm, the sentiment! I just finished a half work day, and tonight we will party... partying the Christmas way! It'll be a crack! (Irish - good time!)
I've decided that this would be my term wrap-up blog. I won't post any pictures on this one, but one to come in the future, perhaps while sitting in Al McDicko's in Steiner using their wifi!
Here are some things I've learned in the past two and a half months:
1) God provides. God provided for me to go to bible school. Not in the way I really wanted, but that's okay. I was supposed to pay my parents back everything I owed them before I came, and there was a point in the summer when that seemed impossible! I was expecting a random cheque to come in the mail like I see on the movies, but nope, my boss just doubled my hours! Also, my roommate wasn't sure if she was going to come back for the winter term because of the finance situation, so we prayed about it. That same day, she got a call from her church saying that someone had donated $2000 to her. And just last week she got $500 more. It's still not enough to pay for the winter term, but it's a start. And it's super reassuring that this is where God wants her to be. Something I shouldn't, and everyone shouldn't, forget is that we thank God for the provision way too often. We should be thanking God for being the Provider!
2) Resting in God is super important. I am an extreme introvert, who has been living with 13 other girls in close quarters for the last two and a half months. At first, I didn't find it that hard to get alone time, because it was nice out so I just went for walks all the time. But now, when it's cold and everyone's inside all the time, it's super hard to find quiet time and alone time. I've really come to cherish my alone time with God because He restores me. I used to not think that alone time with God could actually be my alone time because I was under the impression that my alone time could only be doing things that I wanted to do. Pretty selfish, huh?
3) God equips the people He calls. I was chosen to be a part of the community help team. We often just raked leaves for people because there are TONS of trees around here. Raking leaves is hard work, especially when you have to carry the leaves uphill to where you dump them. And if you know me, you know that I don't have a ton of physical strength. I used to have some, from working at Smitty's and lifting 25 lbs. pans of bacon above my head every day. But by the time I got here, my muscles were sadly dwindling. But God equipped me with the strength I needed every time. And I think I was able to gain some muscle out of it too. But sadly, when I come back in January, that muscle may be gone again! Then I'll start the process over.
4) God uses community to smooth out rough edges in our lives. This is the very first time that I've been living in a dorm/community setting. I'm used to boys, not girls. I'm not used to having to strategically plan my mornings around when other people use the washrooms. Living in community is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever had to experience in my life, and it's not done yet, but I am grateful still. Living in community is like refining diamonds. Diamonds can only have damaged done to them by other diamonds. So, to smooth out the rough edges of diamonds, you place it with other diamonds. But if you don't add water to the diamond bowl, the diamonds just end up destroying each other. Water protects the diamond from not getting completely destroyed. Such is with living in community. Inevitably, people living together are going to end up irritated and hating one another. But having God at the center of community protects us. God is the water in this situation. That was quite a long analogy, I apologize. And I might not have told it right, but hey, it's just something I remember someone here at Capernwray saying.
So those are just four things I've learned here at Capernwray Fall Term. I've learned a ton more, but honestly, I can't really remember a lot of anything right now. Information overload, haha. I fear that I've lost knowledge of the things I learned in high school because I have no room for it left in my brain. So much biblical stuff, French stuff, and German stuff has been stuffed into my mind. I've even found myself forgetting when people's birthdays are, which I never had a problem remembering before! I used to be so good at remembering people's birthdays! (Thank goodness for Facebook and Moms!)
In light of all knowledge you can have with biblical stuff though, we musn't forget that Christ is truly the center of it all. We don't need to understand everything. We don't need to "get" all the doctrines or theology. We just need to believe. Believe Christ. Because He is what is true. In a world that strives on falsehoods, Christ is always true.
love,
Janessa
P.S. Manitoba, I'll see ya tomorrow!
