This is Reality

I moved away from home three weeks ago. I can’t say I love it; and I can’t say I hate it. But I can say I’m where God wants me so I have His peace which makes me fine with it.

My new life feels surreal. At times it seems like I’m watching a movie of some other girl’s life. Sometimes I just stop and think “What are you doing here???” I often wonder why I’m here, and why I have this life. It’s hard to believe my old life is gone and my new one is here to stay. I think of what I would be doing if I were back home. I still feel like this is just temporary and I’ll be back where I belong later. But no, I’ve really said goodbye, and I might not ever see some of you again. This is nothing new to me, so why do I still have trouble grasping it?? Sorry for my jumbled thoughts, but I get in this reflective/contemplative mood a lot.


Here’s something I read a couple days ago. I know I quote a lot of books and other people, but sometimes I just can’t verbalize what I’m thinking inside. So, here is a good point on prayer:

“Some people say, and many more believe, that as soon as we meet all His conditions, God will answer our prayer. They teach that He lives in an eternal now, that with Him there is no past or future, and that if we can fulfill all He requires to be obedient to His will, immediately our needs will be met, our desires satisfied, and our prayers answered.
“While there is much truth in this belief, it expresses only one side of the truth. God does live in an eternal now, yet He works out His purposes over time. A petition presented to God is like a seed dropped into the ground. Forces above and beyond our control must work on it until the actual accomplishment of the answer.”
from The Still Small Voice


Okay, this is a change of pace, but I just remembered a funny story that I thought I would share. It’s one of those make-do-with-what-you-have stories. You see, here at the apartment, we don’t have luxury items such as butcher knives for cutting watermelons. So when my dad brought home the above mentioned fruit that my brother had grown back home, I had to figure out how to cut it open so we could actually eat it. My first thought (as much as I hate making messes) was to throw it down on the ground so it would break open, hopefully in small enough pieces for us to eat. But the mental picture of me trying to bite into a gigantic hacked-off piece of watermelon didn’t appeal to me, so I came up with a different plan. Enter the paring knife. You might not realize it, but that 2½ -inch blade can work wonders. My supportive sister, Kaley, stood by and laughed as I stabbed the 8.25 lb watermelon (okay, so we didn’t weigh it before we ate it, but it was no melon midget) and began “paring” away. After a bit of effort on my part, the tiny knife produced manageable slices and we were able to enjoy the “fruits” of my labor. Of course, my brother, Chris, gets some credit too since he grew it.

That is just one of the many humorous stories we have of apartment life. We do have some unusual luxuries here, like a crock-pot, but have you ever tried cooking alfredo noodles in that?? I haven’t either— I just went out and bought a saucepan. Oh yeah, and then there’s the chocolate chip cookies we made without chocolate chips…or vanilla. Dad said they were the best cookies he had ever eaten (but Kaley and I had different thoughts on the matter). Time would fail me to tell of other occurrences and dilemmas such as:

• The Local Ghost Light (we caught it on film!!!!!)
• The Clothes-Eating Dryer (um, unfortunately, we have evidence for this too)
• Phantom Noises from The Underworld (a.k.a. the neighbor downstairs)
• Sophisticated Burglary Systems (i.e. seriously squeaky stairs)
• The Perilous Back Balcony and Treacherous Three-story Descent
• The Hyper-Active Oven that knows no heat limits
• The undetterable characters next door who voraciously weed-eat their lawn at 10:30 AT NIGHT!!!!
• Tea bags + Frozen Grape Juice + Lemonade Mix + One Lonely Pitcher = assorted containers of beverages occupying our refrigerator shelves and continuous pitcher-washing!

Ah yes, this is reality. ;)