He Remains the Same

I feel awesome. I can tell you a few reasons why. I know that I have a place to belong in this world, in fact probably a few places. I know I have a family that loves me, friends that enjoy my company, and customers/strangers that enjoy being helped by me. I know that I can count on them as I promise to do the same. I may not always realize them, but deeper in my heart, deeper than my fear of not knowing this, I can count on them. You cannot buy that, it is earned and learned. It takes trust, faith, diligence, patience, and love. I will not always have a reminder of it, but I will always have it deep down. On the other hand, I know that harsh trials come along at all times and occasions. It is how one deals with these that makes or breaks them, that strengthens or weakens them. Sometimes a blessing comes out of it, just before it, or even at the same time or continuously through it. I have had plenty of these so far in my walk of life and faith, but there will be so much more of them ahead. Just in the last few weeks I have had the roughest part of my life's journey: I finished up what will have been the hardest semester of college (and possibly ever of school) while having two part-time jobs and under the most stress I have ever had up to this point. I also managed to get sick twice (once with a cold of coughing and sneezing which is decreasing yet persisting even now, and then with a bacterial infection that left my whole system out of whack--digestive, immune, also my sleeping and eating were greatly affected.) I am having trouble finishing classes on time and it is proving difficult to arrange all of this. I still have two classes that are required to take in order to graduate, and one is the prerequisite of the other so that is even more confusing. Anyway, that is all to say that I have come on top of those challenges. As I recently posted on Facebook, that was a hard time for me yet I came out strong: I didn't even realize I was taking 18 credits (with 2 jobs on the side) and actually INCREASED my GPA (cumulative, my semester GPA sky rocketed from last sem.) I also can tell you that this has all come upon me by a power greater than me, greater than I could ever have on my own. I have no one greater to thank than God. This is what gives my happiness. I know that regardless of my situation, He loves me the same. There are blessings and curses, opportunities grasped and withheld, times to gather up and times to bring down, YET HE REMAINS.