bigger than the world I see...

there are so many wonderful things in life, and so often, i'm overshadowed by the less-than-wonderful...
i have a loving family, even if i don't understand them and they don't understand me...
i have amazing friends -- they're all crazy, and they accept and love my craziness (maybe that's a completely wrong assumption, but i like to think that's the way it is)...
the opportunities in my life have been mind-blowing: i'm sitting in a computer lab, well-fed, warm, under a roof, procrastinating from pursuring my master's degree in wildlife biology and conservation in edinburgh, scotland... ten years ago if you told that to a 13-yr old, lonely, self-conscious, shy, introverted farm girl, she would've laughed in your face, and then gotten really embarressed and ran away...
and most of all, I have a Savior that kept reaching out for me, all the times that I ran away... and He was there when I finally fell, crying, broken, and reaching out to Him also... and now when I'm back on my face, He's still there...
life sucks sometimes... more so at other times... but we have a BIG God, bigger than life, bigger than this storm, and bigger than anything that will come for all time...
as the writers in "God Calling" said : We have a big God, have a big faith, and expect big things.
i don't like the whole "rejoice in your suffering" thing and i know i don't rejoice most of the time - paul seems super-human when he repeats that over and over again, maybe it just helped him get through the floggings and such... but i know i'm not alone... even when i feel alone... but i have to have the faith that big things will happen for God's glory, and we are the instruments, even when we feel completely isolated and lost and worthless... just keep on going...
not that it's going to make life easy, but it's still living...

"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." -- Jesus, in John 12:25-26