A Stressful Week That Led To Cinnamon Rolls
Hi friends! Another week has passed and I want to thank the Lord for restful weekends. God really knew what He was doing when He commanded that we practice the Sabbath. This past week was difficult and joyful at the same time. I had Monday off for Labor Day which was a blessing! However, I felt so overwhelmed and overcome with emotion when it came to Tuesday. I felt like there was so much to do with so little time. I often blow things up in my head to an extreme magnitude. I overthink things and make it out to be worse than it often is. Once I breathed and prayed, I felt a little bit lighter. I actually got things done by Friday morning so I had Friday, Saturday, and today off! What a glorious blessing weekends are. This semester has really taught me to take it one day at a time. I used to look at my whole week along with EVERYTHING I had to do. However, that is not an option this semester. Let me dive a little deeper. In the fall of 2019, I started my first semester of college. 5 in-person classes and in-person friends. An easy and usual thing! Then, 2020 rolled around and all of a sudden I was online. No face-to-face interaction and no in-person friends. A hard and unusual thing. A few years go by and I have a few in-person classes sprinkled in the mix of mostly online classes. Well, this semester I have all in-person classes with the exception of one online class. Going back to a "normal" class routine was the biggest slap in the face I had had in a while. I did not think the aftereffects of Covid would affect me so deeply. The anxiety, the stress, the need for perfection, the over-planning, the OCD...it all washes over me like a sea of chaos. So, I have no other choice than to breathe, take it one day at a time, and end the day with a prayer of thanks and gratitude that I made it through the day successfully. See...we can do hard things! A week of hard work and stress leads to the blessing of the weekend Sabbath. I have never appreciated weekends more than I do at this very moment. I had lots of joys sprinkled throughout the week, like Tuesday night Bible study at the UCO Wesley, Thursday lunch at the UCO Wesley, and even a fun meeting with Dr. Gayzur (my cognitive psychology professor). I choose to look for joy in the hard and stressful weeks. I completed another week. And that is a success! My struggles turned into success and an opportunity to celebrate the Sabbath. I did this by putting away my technology, taking care of myself, and baking gluten-free cinnamon rolls for the first time (because I am a gluten-free gal, not by choice, but by joy)! Thank you Jesus for getting me through another week and for helping me to take care of myself even when it is hard. Let's all find the "cinnamon roll" in our lives that we can work hard for and look forward to!
Lots of love,
Lauren
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