Awake my soul: the morning commute

A new aspect of my Chicago life is that I now have a 25-30 minute commute in the mornings and 30-40 minute commute in the evenings. Initially, I wasn't very excited about that idea. After only 4 days of the commute--I'm really starting to enjoy the time. My morning routine has already become somewhat therapeutic. I wake up, get ready, have my coffee pot on auto brew, drink my coffee and read a bit or watch the news, then head out. I pop in my ear buds with worship music and walk to the bus. Once onboard, I take out my bible or book and enjoy solitute (seemlingly) with my Savior. Then my lunch hour is kind of a follow up to whatever I read that morning--whether reading it again, or looking up cross references or mentions.  

I read this on the bus this morning in the Nature of God by Arthur Pink:

 "Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. If God were stinted in might and had a limit to His strength, we might well despair. But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need to great for Him to supply, No passion too strong for Him to subdue, no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve. ‘The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1). “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen’ (Ephesians 3:20-21)"

Another from yesterday's ride:

"Here is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon; but God can! However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If He varied as we do, if He willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if He were controlled by caprice, who could confide in Him? But He is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, His will stable, His word is sure. Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent sweeps away everything around us. The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed: but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee" (Isaiah 54:10).

This book has already been such an encouragement to me. It is helping me to step back, fall on my knees and truly be in awe of the characteristics and attributes of God. In this time of change and new things and personal stretching at work-it is essential for me to remember that God is completely good and completely sovereign.

Psalm 31:15 "My times are in your hand"

Where's my parachute??

I'm laughing at the fact that I titled my last post "jump". I definitely feel like I jumped and am now in the free-fall stomach hurtling stage of horror that ensues. The water or pillow or parachute hasn't quite come into effect yet...but I'm confident that it will. 

I started my job two weeks ago. The job is insanely stressful and busy right now, but I think it will be good once I get going. This is the phase where I put my nose to the grind and work my tail off so I can reap the rewards down the road. I still don't feel like I live here...since I just moved into my apartment on Saturday morning. My parents came up from Ames with a U-Haul and my stuff to get me moved in. My sister came up from Lafayette to help as well. Stress levels were soaring all weekend (mostly coming from me-work, life and not being settled made me in to quite a pill). I'm so thankful for family that loves me unconditionally and wants to help even when I'm being impossible. 

I think I will love my apartment. It's tiny, but cozy. Initially I was pretty bummed when I saw the size of it--but once I got my stuff in, I really started to love it. It took us quite a bit of furniture shuffling to get the apartment to feel homey. Let's try moving the loveseat over THERE (that won't work. why are you suggesting that?), just TRUST me, TRY IT! With all of our ideas combined, we were able to get a great set up going. 

My biggest hope is that I can get plugged into community quickly. There are a ton of great churches around here--I just want to find the one that fits for this stage of life. I've tried one and am planning to try another new one next week. I think especially with the high stress of a new city and new job, community is essential.