Psalms 119:1-12

Blessed are the undifiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.  Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.  They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.  Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!  Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.  I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.  I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.  Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  by taking heed thereto according to thy word.  With my WHOLE HEART have I sought thee:  O let me not wonder from thy commandments.  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.

        I know it's been awhile since I updated xanga.  Forgive me for my leave of absence.  Nursing school kept me more than busy last semester.  At times I thought I was going to die. . .but God pulled me through. 

        Looking back over 2006 and evaluating my life, I saw God's unfailing love and faithfulness to me even when I wasn't faithful to Him.  To be completely honest, I had my ups and downs in my spiritual walk with the Lord.  This past semester especially.  I allowed my school work and school responsibilities to come between me and my relationship with the Lord.  In a since you could say I put the Lord on the back burner.  I didn't have consistant times in His Word, in prayer or in meditating on scripture.  I justified all this by saying "I just didn't have time" even though I knew this was wrong.  God started convicting me in December about this as I started meditating on the 10 commandments one day.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. . .and. . .Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . .   I realized that I had put my school before the Lord and therefore had made school my god.  I thanked God for convicting me and asked Him to forgive me and help me to start afresh and to desire a closer more intimate relationship with Him.  I asked Him to give me a hunger for His word.  Thus God started placing people in my life to challenge me and to encourage me.  It started. . .

        New Year's Eve.  I was at a costume party and my Sunday School teacher came up to me and asked me if I would like to memorize Psalm 119 this year with Him and a few other people.  I knew right then and there that was what the Lord wanted me to do, so I agreed.  Then one of the other Sunday School teachers started a Bible study and accountability group which I am now attending on Thursday nights.  I am sooo excited about this because I know that the Lord is going to teach me sooo much this year.  If any of you think about me please pray that I will stay faithful to Him even when school gets tough and that I will not loose sight of the purpose for why I'm doing this.  Because the Bible says "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" -Mark 8:36. 

       I also have been faithfully working out at the gym everyday. . .and I feel 100 times better.  It's amazing how much more energy I have when I work out.  I had been pretty faithful working out until about midterms last semester and then. . .I'm not for sure what happened.  Probably those many missed nights of sleep!

       Last semester I took a total of 15 credit hours which doesn't sound like much, but when you are studying such rich content and you literally are in class more than 15 hours a week (more like 30 hours) it is A LOT and A HALF!!!!!!  This semester I didn't want to repeat this if I could help it, so I took a fast track in Psychology over my winter break.  This was a bitter sweet thing as I really wanted a break, but at the same time it made 3 less hours for me to take this semester. So I didn't have a break. . .but I'm only taking 11 credit hours this semester even though my schedule says 14.  I'm studying acute care, post partum care and school nursing this semester so I am going to be all over the place.  I have the evening shift at the hospital this semester so that is going to be a challenge but I already know that God's grace is suficient in my time of need!

      Rejoicing in His Goodness and Mercy.

Isaiah 43:2a NLT
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.

Psalm 40:2 NLT

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

Well, Clinicals have started. . .and guess what color my uniform is?  Those of you who have been involved in any length of time with ATI know that its colors were navy and white. . .well guess what?  My school uniform for clinicals is Navy and white only in reverse.  I have the pleasure of wearing white pants which I absolutely love ( said in a very sarcastic tone).  I only thought I had gotten away from those colors only to find out that I will be wearing them for the next two years!  Life is funny sometimes!

I would appreciate your alls prayers for me that I could remain strong and use my time wisely and do well on my tests and in school.  I will be honest, . .nursing school is HARD!  I flunked my parmacology test this past week after spending 20hours alone studying for that exam.  It is very disheartening when you work really hard for something only to fail.  I know that God has called me to this though and He will give me the means to accomplish what I need to do!  I really have been meditating on this verse this past week:
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. (Lamentations 3:23)

I'm so glad that I don't have to completely stress out like several others in my class because I know that when God calls me to do something, He also equips me.  I just have to hang on and do my part of the job!  Well, I'm off to study for another test and to do some homework! 

Leviticus 26:12 NLT

I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

Well. . .I have finished my second week of nursing school and I am so happy!  I have taken several tests and I will be honest, this has been a difficult semester!  There is a ton of homework assignments due everyday at the beginning of class and a lot of reading assignments and then at least 2-3 tests a week!  God has been good to me as I have done well on all the tests so far!  I took one yesterday though and felt soooo stupid!  O well. My days usually consist of getting up around 6:45 in the morning and leaving the house around 7:10.  I get to school and sit in class most of the day.  Mon. and Wed. are my longest days as I have class till 9:00 at night then I have to come home and do more homework!  I have been going to bed around 12:30-1:00 every night so by the weekends I am exhausted.  I will keep you posted on my further progress. . .until then. . .adios!

My brother came and went. . .I really enjoyed seeing him again!  He did inform me that I was a very busy person. . .which didn't suprise me!

I catered my good friend Kendra's wedding last weekend. . .I'm sooo greatful for the friends who helped me. . .things wouldn't have gone as smooth without them.

I started nursing school last Thursday and just finished my first week!  There are NO words to discribe the challenges, emotions and the amazing amount of assignments and work demanded of us everyday, along with the lack of sleep.  But even though it seems bad. . .I'm excited because I am one day closer to being a Nurse!  Yeah!!!

Lab is fun. . .we had to practice feeding each other and making beds/changing sheets with patients in them, ect.  My lab mate is a male and so I couldn't help laughing as I was trying to feed him his applesauce! He has been a CNA at a hospital so he has seen quit a bit of patient feeding and could mimic some of the worst patients.  He was really trying to give me a hard time. . .but no worries. . .I have fed numerous babies before!  I never really thought I would feed another guy except when I got married. . .but I guess that most definitly will never be the case.   This is only the beginning!  I'm sure I will have many more strories to tell later!