A cheerful heart is good medicine.

Last Friday I hosted a girls' night sleepover for any university girls that are in one of my small groups, go to my church, or I've come to know through mutual friends or because I met them sitting on a bench at campus. While not all were able to make it, I'll speak on behalf of all who were in attendance in saying that 

we had a blast.

I'd love to be able to share about the fun, exciting and memorable event; however, I'm pretty sure there's an unspoken rule that states what happens at a girls' slumber party, stays at the slumber party. 

So instead, I'll just let you know that we had a night full of laughing and dancing, and a morning of worship, sharing, and praying together. Memories and fellowship that made the sleepless night well worth it.

The end of the semester is approaching quickly for these university students. And, sadly, it means that the amount of time I have left to spend with them is also drawing to a close. The next week and a half will be full of reading, studying, writing papers, and taking exams. But it hasn't prevented me from making sure they take a break every now and then to have some fellowship, play a game, go for a run or share a meal together and with me. I'm constantly at war with myself as the teacher side of me knows that they should be studying and the rest of me just wants to spend time with them. 

Some of us have already lived through these sleepless, caffeine-dependent years known as our college days, some never have and others are anticipating them in the future. But, regardless of whether you've lived through finals and end of semester projects, we've all battled worry, anxiety, and stress in some area of life. So, I justify the times I take them away from studying by saying that they are emotionally, physically and spiritually healthy breaks.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again:
Rejoice!... Do not be anxious about anything..." 

Philippians 4:4,6 

The command is to rejoice always and to not be anxious about anything, regardless of how hectic our schedules are or how pressing the stress is. However, I'm far from confident in being able to say I always abide by this. I'm in the middle of re-rereading Francis Chan's book CrazyLove, one of my favorites. This weekend I came across a section of the book where he talks about worry and stress:

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.  

Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. 

Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance."

When I read that for first time a couple years ago, it made me halt. Showing that we're stressed and being worried about the things in our lives doesn't somehow show the world that we're important and that the things in our lives are "exceptional". Instead it displays both my arrogance and lack of dependency on God. What a staggering truth that was to me then, and again when I read it on Saturday. There are some things I find myself learning and relearning over and over again. And, with each new phase of life and with each decision to be made, my flesh is tempted to let worry, anxiety and stress reign.

Praise God that he is "a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore (he) did not desert (me)..."(Nehemiah 9:17)

In the midst of our worry and stress, Chan claims that we've forgotten God's strength, among many other things, and questions us with, "Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?"

So, I guess the reminder of the day is that life is actually not all about me; it's about God. And, no matter what seems to be going on in our lives - finals, a new job, a move, you name it - none of it is exceptional enough for us to not let it go and instead obey God's command to rejoice always. I feel so blessed that all across the world I have some pretty amazing friends with whom I love to rejoice and praise God alongside!