Shattered Silence

Busy Never Stops   Since the beginning of November, I have been extremely overwhelmed, overbooked, oversensitive, overworked, and overstressed, to say the least.   Following up my Fall 2018 semester with four months of Student Teaching (starting in January) that would lead to graduation, it was clear that my mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual life was (is) crumbling.   From a serious acne breakout to stomach issues, depression, anxiety, and burnout, it was becoming clear to me that despite my wonderful boyfriend, dance team, supportive friends, and powerful God, that without taking time to rest, I would only further continue to widen and deepen my hole of despair.   Reading a Devotional one cool winter evening, as I snuggled deep into the comfort of my heated blanket, the warmth of more than just the sheet itself began to press itself upon my soul.   Hearing the words come to life like narrators reading their smoked and softly primed mo...

The Scavenger Hunt   Every year at Christmas since I can remember, my Dad has made me a witty scavenger hunt leading up to my biggest present hidden somewhere in the house.   As I grew older, I began to realize that I didn’t want presents so much as people and experiences rather than things, yet, never the less, year after year, I would beg my Dad to make me one of these hunts regardless of the present at the end of the puzzling codes and clues.   Accordingly, year after year, he would make me one, and to this day, it is still my favorite Christmas present that I physically receive because of the mystery, solving, and hide and seek that takes place.   Over 2000 year ago, some people I’ve heard much about also fell in love with this expectation of mystery and solving the latest collection of scavenger hunt clues that they held at their fingertips- they just didn’t know it yet.   In the Old Testament, it is cited various times by numerous Prophets and wor...

Abraham and Isaac: What’s Your Isaac?   (Festival of Carols) “Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain” “(Genesis 22:2, ERV).   As a Christian, I have come to the understanding that God often works in ways we are unable to understand, especially when uncomfortable situations occur, making us question if He alone is really good.   Yet despite our circumstances, mishaps, highs, and lows, Jesus reminds us in Romans 8:28 that we can rest assured, for “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, ERV).   Despite this comfort, however, in the deepest inquires of my heart, I still ponder calamities as they occur.   In fact, I question their existence in my life and ...