Your Love is Strong

Warning: This is quite a long and "reflective" entry, so if you're not used to me being so ...PERSONAL... then you can move on to my other regular posts. haha. but once in awhile I like to write about LIFE because 95% of the time I'm actually NOT doing any sort of art or DIY... (although I'd love to). A much more common scenario is me slaving away at my full-time job. hahaha!  But today, I just wanted to share with you all what an AMAZING day I had.

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Now if you ask me, an "amazing day" would be spent making crafts, playing music, running around in random fields and forests while wearing a silly costume, and driving around to every ice-cream and burger joint in town (some people go club hopping, but I prefer burger-joint hopping). 

But NO. Today I worked more than 14 HOURS at the office (can you say workaholic? ...or more like professional procrastinator)! I was severely lacking in sleep since the past two Saturdays we had been called into work so I felt like I had lost two consecutive weekends. Mondays also happen to be my longest days because I teach until 6pm (yes, my school has crazy long class hours). Plus, it just so happened that all my free periods today were filled with assessing oral exams and interviewing a potential teacher... not to mention all the exam prep and looming deadlines. So I woke up starting this Monday on a depressing note and crawling to work like a ZOMBIE. Obviously this doesn't sound like the start of an AMAZING DAY. Not with that attitude. haha.

Anyway, at the start of today I was already overwhelmed with what I knew would be a long and gruelling work week. I was just sitting at my desk for 5 minutes staring into space (like a creeper), wanting to put my head down and cry. But that would be a pitiful (and hilarious) sight, first thing on a Monday morning, so of course I just wept silently inside and collected my hypothetical tears behind my outwardly-dry eye sockets.

There happened to be an assembly this morning and some of the students led the school in singing "How Great is Our God". That really uplifted my spirits, being able to sing and worship in the morning. During each assembly we also recite a verse, and today's verse was just the perfect reminder for me of God's providence:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest".

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

It was so strange but immediately I felt comforted and for the rest of the day, things just ran so much smoother than I had anticipated... like a strawberry smoothie (which I am definitely craving at the moment, hence the irrelevant reference). I actually enjoyed doing all the oral assessments because my IB students' presentations were so engaging, some of my classes definitely made me laugh with their silly antics... and it was one of those crazy days where I was so busy I didn't even realize I hadn't had lunch yet until finishing my last class at 6pm. Usually I get super cranky if I don't have food in my stomach (aka. THE BEAST) but I had so much energy that I worked from 7:45am to 6pm without eating (if you know me well, you know that's really out of the ordinary)... And yet, after a quick dinner run (where I overcompensated for the lost meals with Chinese take-out + ice-cream + chips + snacks), I was still able to mark papers for another 2+ hours. HOW!?!!?! Definitely not by my strength alone.

Ironically, during one of my busiest, most hectic, and seemingly endless days, I felt more rested than I had in a long time, and I realized that I had been filled with so much inexplicable joy and optimism that the entire day went by in a whirlwind. I didn't even need my usual mid-day nap (aka. falling asleep at my desk from exhaustion and waking up just before having to teach another class - complete with sleep-marks on my forehead - in which case students proceed to ask why I have weird red blotches on my head and I pretend not to hear them while slowly pulling down my bangs to hide the evidence...). HAHA. true story. on wayyyyy too many occasions.

Looking back though, today was such a happy day, even though there wasn't anything in particular to look forward to besides more papers to mark. Seriously, that kind of joyful attitude only comes from God alone because if I were left on my own, I'd be complaining and grumbling and dying a little inside with each passing hour. In the end, the reason I say today was AMAZING is because I can't believe I got through it all without breaking down or burning out... or even thinking of doing either of those things! It's during days like these that I'm reminded once again - when I'm weak, God lifts me up and gives me the strength to keep going. 

So I don't know what tomorrow will bring. For all know, I could be back in zombie-mode and reluctantly crawling my way back to school once again... because I know that I'm only human, I'm inconsistent and I falter easily. But I rest in the comfort that God's love is strong, and I do not need to worry, because He knows what I need - to not only survive but to conquer each day. 

=)

laura