Weekend Weekend Weekend!

Hooray for three day weekends! I'm done until Tuesday, and so happy about it. :)
Last week was pretty busy, being the first week of the semester, but this week was my real taste of what this year will be like. On Mondays and Fridays, I'm done at noon, which is so nice- all I have those days is Science Lecture and Music Theory 1. Wednesdays are the same, except I have voice class at 12. That's nice too. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busy days: on Tuesdays, I have class from 9:30- 3:15 with choir from 4-5:30; Tuesdays 8-3:15 (with an hour break before lunch) and then choir. Whew! Monday nights Natalie and I co-lead a Bible Study, and a few times so far (and a few times a month) I sit desk in the evenings in my dorm. And hopefully I will soon have a job babysitting an infant :)
It sounds like a crazy schedule, and on Thursdays it feels like one ;) but MWF can be so nice. I have time to do my homework for the next day, and that's really nice. It's been wonderful seeing my friends and Paul again too :) He comes to sit desk with me, and he has a house "off campus" that's a five minute walk from Olds so I can study there without worrying about breaking visitation rules. (visitation is only parts of a few days a week in dorms.) That's been nice, too, because I really can do my homework, but then we always end up talking and laughing and even having a pillowfight :) It's been a good thing.
I've also been learning alot, spiritually. I'm learning from preparing for Bible Study, from talking to friends and Mary Beth especially, and from talking to Paul. Paul is so zealous about studying the word, and he knows more than I do by far, and we've talked about creation, adoption, love, marriage, our inheritance in Christ, holiness, the fruit of the spirit, worship, and the will of God. He challenges me and blesses me in a way none of my friends do.
My friends here have been wonderful too, though. I study with my girls alot, and we eat lunch together; Mary Beth and I can spend hour talking, so we do that a few times a week too. :)
With all of this, despite missing my family (alot!), I feel so blessed to be here. I hope you all have a great weekend together, especially with Mom there :)

Encouragements

This morning I logged onto facebook, kind of hoping to have a message, and found instead that two of my friends had posted notes (which is like a blog post for facebook). They weren't friends I know extremely well; one I had a class with, and one I dance with at swing club but otherwise see only across the hall. But their notes looked good, so I read them, and I am glad I did!

Paul Mueller's note was about Romans 14:5-8 and how he has been convicted to delete his copied music from his computer because, since he doesn't know for sure if it is wrong or not, to him it is a sin to have that music. Well, that applied both directly and indirectly to me. It's hard not to take the songs that friends email to me at school, or copy onto my computer so we can listen to them while we are together, and I've been especially avoiding deleting Hey There Delilah, which Amy emailed to me. But I can't keep any of it any longer, because for me it is a sin. I know it.
Paul Mueller's note also said this, which really made me think: "Am I really walking in a life of simple, humble faith or am I living for myself and using God’s words to back up my own ambitions and vanity?" If I am walking in a life of humble faith, then it is going to take over every part of that life, including music. I was challeneged and encouraged to be reminded of my obligation as a follower of Christ to obey in everything.

Shannon's note was about the cross- about Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” She wrote that Christians these days tend to live as if the cross was a small thing with little importance or authority in our lives, as though it changes nothing. But, she pointed out, for the early disciples, taking up their cross meant death to their former life and their own desires. They knew that they could die for following Jesus, and they still chose to die to the world, because they were called to follow Jesus.

I thought, as I read these friends' words, how blessed I am to have such friends. My life should reflect Christ in everything the same way theirs does, but I forget this alot. I want to obey in everything, though. I am deleting my copied music right now, and I am praying that I always reflect Christ in my life.

PNK

This picture is SO Paul :)

Words

By now, you all know about a certain young man I know :) Well, I didn't want to say anything too soon, because it's a different sort of relationship: we're not dating, and we're not quite courting, but we are... perhaps I'll have more to say about that when we're back at school...? :) I'll keep you all updated. Thank you all for your prayers and happiness :)
Paul loves God and spends most of his free time studying the Word. I'd like you all to get to know him a bit, so here is a glimpse of his heart:

[This is from a conversation he and I were having at school]
"That's why fasting is so important to do. Putting us into that continual, completely in your face and unavoidable realization that just as physical life is only possible by depending upon God to nourish us with food, that we absolutely cannot have real life unless we depend and fill ourselves with his word; otherwise we'll die. Kind of like a 2 Peter 1:5-9 kind of thing. You're either filling youself and so growing and living; or you're not filling yourself, and instead of just not growing, you'll completely die and fall away. That's what fasting, real fasting, is for; and what we just need to do with it sometimes; deprive ourselves to the point where it feels like we can't keep going, where it feels like we can't survive any more, and feel that deep need; that same need we feel there is the same need we have in our real, our spiritual life; and so, with prayer, that fast makes us so realize that and depend upon God for the nourishment for that real, spiritual life and do whatever we can to obtain that nourishment in his word."

[This is from a group discussion on facebook about Philippians]
"--I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.
We need to live in such a manner that we can truly say this of our brothers and sisters. In order to truly thank God every time a brother comes into our minds, we first need to have reason to give thanks to God on their account. Thanking God upon every remembrance isn't just "O, Michael...thank you God for Michael being so...talented and smart. He really helps me out with my homework at school." It should be that true thanksgiving and rejoicing that comes from the glorificiation of the name of Christ. And if our friendships, if our relationships are idle, if they are with those whose lives will not glorify the name of Christ, then we are having no reason to rejoice in the Father on their account. And so we must take it upon ourselves to ensure that we have reason to rejoice in our brothers, constantly setting the redemption that is in Christ before their eyes that they might forever behold it, trust in it continually, and by faith live in this grace in which we stand, this adoption to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Then, when we see our brothers and sisters living in their adoption, living as the new man and not as the old, bearing the fruit of the Spirit even as Christ himself did, and in all things bringing glory and honor to the name of Christ, then we will certainly have grounds to thank God upon every remembrance of them: for even then will these brothers and sisters do the work of Christ as well, preaching his name unto those around them, and bringing encouragement and comfort to others, and to ourselves. And when they minister to us, strengthen us, restore us--how much more then will we have cause to thank God upon their behalf. So let us make this true: devote yourselves to ministering to your brothers and strengthening them and building them up, especially those that are weak, so that they may be strengthened and you can truly say, along with Paul, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

I just wanted you to have an idea of what an earnest, Christ-centered person he is, and maybe be challenged as I am. :) I love you!