Great

Today? Was AWESOME.

God?  Is AWESOME.

Because only a good, good God would pack today with so many things that blessed me and surprised me and leave me sitting here with a smile on my face, after how I was feeling yesterday.  It's such a good reminder that God really can handle our anger and frustration, and that it's okay.

First, Political Thought was actually funny.  I definitely don't see Dr. Schroeder the same way I did when I was a freshman.  He's really witty and sarcastic!  I loved it, and to see my perspective change was great.

Right after that, I got to have lunch with Clayton (a Reformation brother, if you don't remember), which is always great because he is a joy to be around.  As soon as I met up with him after our 11:00 classes (his is Early Christianity...with Dr. Jonas. Boo.  I'm still sad I'm not in there live-tweeting it), he gave me this big hug.  For some reason, every time we get together, we end up talking about faith and God and he teaches me a lot about theology.  Like almost every other Reformation brother, he has a hard time accepting compliments, so any time I try and tell him how wise he is, he basically looks like he doesn't believe me.  We spent a lot of time talking about yesterday, but not so much about the details as the emotions that came with it.  Clayton is full of Biblical stories that relate to whatever we talk about, and today was no different.  He also shares pieces of himself and his own struggles, which makes me feel less like I'm just dumping everything on him.  Also, he's a total dork and is absolutely hilarious.  So everything about my time with him is great.

Just as we were getting ready to leave the Oasis - I had a meeting in D Rich and he had work in Taylor at 1:00 - the bottom fell out of the sky thanks to a massive thunderstorm.  Like, I'm talkin' the wind was blowing the rain so hard sideways that it blew the front doors wide open and knocked the framed "sanitation grade" thing off the wall.  With no warning whatsoever.  Clayton looked over at me and said, "Uhhh...let's wait a minute."  So we stood there talking for a bit until the wind calmed down enough that we thought we could make it out, and it looked like it was about as good as it was gonna get anytime soon.  NC thunderstorms are no joke.  But here's the thing - my umbrella broke a while ago, it's completely unusable because two of the metal bars completely snapped in half when it got flipped inside out one time.  I haven't had to deal with a storm since then thanks to this ultra-bizarre winter.  Clayton, wearing only a short-sleeved shirt (no jacket), insisted I use his umbrella until we got to D Rich (thankfully it's before Taylor when coming from the Oasis).  That sweetheart got absolutely drenched in a thunderstorm so I could remain somewhat dry.  That was so kind.  D Rich, unlike most of the buildings with outside stairs, has a covered part at the top, so we walked up those for me to hand him over his umbrella.  And instead of looking miserable like most people would in his state, he just grinned at me through his wet glasses and said, "I need windshield wipers" and made the motion of windshield wipers cleaning off his glasses.  And he's one of the ones that isn't afraid to tell me he loves me. :)

In my meeting with Dr. Thornton, he helped me with a piece of the research for my Senior Seminar paper that I was dead stuck on.  So that was a great relief.

By that point, the rain had slowed down quite a bit, so I decided to head on over to Pearson, Dr. Steegar's office building where we have our French class, and just wait there because I knew no one was in the room we use before us.  It was great that the rain slowed down right at that time.

While I was waiting over there, since I had about an hour and a half to waste before Pam would show up, I texted Clayton and said, "I hope you're warmer now."  We talked for a few minutes.  A little bit later I told him that his wisdom, advice, and humor were much needed gifts today (and they were), he wrote back that he was glad he was a positive force.  And when I said that I hoped my presence did some good for him even though I'm a bit of a mess (with all this health stuff), he wrote back, "You help more than you know."  That was a great, powerful sentence that has been stuck in my head ever since.

French class was hilarious.  And the great part of it was that I did my best video transcript yet.

Afterwards, Pam and I had a great, sweet, but short talk as she headed back to her car.

And I went over to Austin's room.  The best part about this is that it confirmed for me that things really aren't going to change after what happened on Tuesday.  But the whole conversation was just great, as it always has been with him.  He's one of the people that has been trying to get me to not beat myself up when I'm upset or angry with God, so I knew he'd be interested to hear how my mindset had changed, and he wanted more details on everything that happened yesterday.  But we ended up talking about our friendship and the Reformation class and just friendships in general.  He talked about how he's a "mood creator" and that's why he's always so good at cheering me up, which he definitely did today.  And at the end, he prayed over me, despite the fact that he had to get a shower and be somewhere in about 10 minutes.  The whole thing was really, really great.  Spending 45 minutes laying on his bed was the perfect cap on the past 24 hours.  I'm so thankful I still have one of my best friends and one of my most favorite people on this campus.

Last but not least, the craziest part about tonight.  I went to get dinner about 20 minutes after I left Austin's room, and ran into my RA.  A brief interaction turned into 3 full hours of us sitting and talking and me telling her my story.  The very first thing that Austin said in his prayer over me was that he was thankful for my witness.  Tell me that's not God.  The greatest part about it, though?  When I finally decided to go, she looked at me and said, "You wouldn't know this, but I needed this conversation way more than you did."

I said give me a couple days and I'd get over how I was feeling yesterday...well, I've been grinning since about 12:30 when I said bye to Clayton.  I'm grinning like a fool tonight.  And that?  Is GREAT.

God, great is thy faithfulness.