During the season of our lives that was a Master’s degree, I struggled daily with where God had placed us. Because of my faith, I never doubted that we weren’t supposed to be there, but I did doubt that God was around, walking the journey with us. I smiled through my frustration, cursed through my fear, and let my heart cry silently as life moved ever so slowly by.
For my birthday, I asked my husband for The Message Bible. (Secretly, I wanted it because of the psychedelic 3D cover. I have strange taste in art…..ask any of my friends). He granted my wish – hooray! – and as I read through the New Testament I stumbled on this verse:
So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it. 1 Peter 4:19
I literally felt the verse lift off the page, as if it had been written for me. I made several copies of it, placing them in my car, my bathroom, and my office. It became my mantra, my prayer. It encouraged me. My head and heart repeated constantly, ‘Trust Him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.’
I have walked around with that verse for the last 5 years. It will always be meaningful to me, even when this season we are in passes.
What verse, quote or book has carried you through this season of your life?
Mandy
x
the graduate wife 
That was because an awesome girl showed it to me!! Love you!!!
Not always the easiest thing though … to trust. Although, if we can go on the past record, why do we ever doubt??? :)
Happy to make your acquaintance!
Awesome post, Amanda. It’s especially comforting for me to read “he’ll keep on doing it.” Thanks so much for your encouragement.
And a favorite quotation that always seems to come to mind for me during this crazy adventure comes from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity (it’s long, so forgive me!):
Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. … Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’
Thanks for sharing Mandy! And Julia, I loved your quote from C.S. Lewis. So hard to surrender our all…when we want to be able to manage and control so much of the time.
blogsensebybarb, thanks for your comment too and I totally agree. It is amazing to see God at work in our lives over and over again and yet the minute we find ourselves in a ‘new’ hard spot it is back to doubting. What are ways that you remind yourself of His faithfulness when a hard spot comes?
“It Ain’t About Me’
That was the message that my hallmate had taped to her mirror in our freshman dorm room in college. I remember seeing it once and thinking, “Gosh that is pretty powerful…sounds a bit harsh to be honest.” Freshman year of college was a time when it seemed like pretty much everything was “about me” in a sense. I had to decide where to go to school, I had to decide a major, I had to make new friends, I had to put myself out there and introduce myself and share about “me” over and over again. But as I mulled over the words on her mirror in my heart, I began to realize just how true and powerful they were. Simple but profound. I share them because for me, when I have found myself in a place like I am now… the wife of a graduate…I am almost daily reminded of them. Not only is it literally ‘not about me’ since my husband’s career is the one we moved across the ocean for, but figuratively life really isn’t “all about me” and it is so freeing and encouraging when I realize that. Indeed, remembering these simple words in what I consider a difficult time have been eye opening and have helped me refocus my perspective.
Lastly, :) I am reminded of the below quote from Oswald Chambers. It has definitely come to mind quite a few times over the past few months of our PhD journey. So encouraging.
“The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.”
“All this happened so they would follow his principles and obey his laws. Praise the LORD!” — Psalm 105:45
Whether in response to hardship or blessing or incomprehensible circumstance, it puts things into perspective and results in a changed mind and a thankful heart–what’s better than that?!
Great post.
Matthew 6:25-34 has really helped me as we begin our journey together! My husband is on his second graduate degree and our first move out of TX took us only across the country (up with those yankees!), but we both knew the next move would be across the world. We’ve known for a while that God was leading us that direction…somehow I seemed to have thought that because we knew it was God’s will for us it wouldn’t be so hard…but like was said in the earlir blog – thoughts like “will my nieces and nephews even remember me” hit my heart very hard as we arrived 1500 miles away from friends and family. As the reality of a new job with less pay and few hours for my husband to work sunk in I did begin to worry. Especially when he came in only weeks after arriving and announced he was pretty sure his doctorate work needed to be in Europe. HOW will we pay for all of this when we’re living paycheck to paycheck as it is! Undersanding God’s love for us and that we ARE seeking his Kingdom brought peace to my soul as I wrestled not to worry about what we are to eat or wear, because we truly are more than the birds of the fields. It was important for me..and for my husaband too…to learn that peace doesn’t always replace tears. Even as I grow to love this place and the idea of our next move, I still miss my friends and family daily. Still, when I go visit I know, without a shaddow of a doubt, we are not supposed to be living there either. Thank you ladies for this important site- my heart is already so blessed by it! I’m currently helping to reinstate our college’s Graduate Student Wives Fellowship and know I will find inspiration here as I do my best to unite other wives in this season of life. I look forward to reading more and hopfully forming a friendship with you both!
Thank you for you post, and for your encouragement! We are excited to hear that you are building community on your own journey, which is so important. If there’s anything we can do for you, please let us know! And, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and say hi!