Finals Are Coming

Tomorrow is my first exam, then the next two are on Tuesday. It's finals week. 

I got to study at a coffee shop (River City Roasters) in the suburbs today after church while Caleb and Haley met up with a friend they interned with in Bulgaria this summer. The change of environment was just what I needed to focus. An almond milk cappuccino helped too.

Driving back to the city took much longer than expected because of traffic. As Caleb and Haley get ready to move to Colorado on Thursday, I am beyond grateful for these last times I'm getting with them in Chicago. Today was our last day at church together, and the rainy drive back just seemed fitting, despite slow-moving traffic.

(That's the Willis Tower, by the way!)

Someone at church asked me today (paraphrased) if I was just super anxious to be home. I wasn't sure how to reply. A time for everything, I suppose. Life is here too now, so no matter what, transitions are going to be a bit rocky. I'm not one to typically thrive on change, but that is the life the Lord has laid before me. I am thankful He has, for He has provided strength and comfort every single time.

The friend who asked me that question then followed up with, "It's a reminder that God is ever faithful though, right? When life is constantly changing and you are in new places, you depend on that faithfulness all the more." She couldn't have said it better. She was able to articulate something I had been thinking about just yesterday. I needed to hear it told to me though.

So yes, I am excited to be back in Czech over Christmas break. But it comes with heartache too of transition. The joy soon follows, but not without the sting of goodbyes and loss of what "was". I know that when it's time to leave Czech again after break, that will have both elements as well. Somehow the sweetness of what the Lord provides is all the more evident though when it comes through sorrow as well.

Yet in it all, school still presses, and exams are on their way. Two more days and I'll be done with them all.