Nashville Blues

Last week I got to spend about 5 or so day in the wonderful city of Nashville, TN.  It was everything that I hoped for and more.

Laura, Ryan, Pickle, and I got in around 4AM on Tuesday morning, slept a bit, and then got on our country way.  It was awesome.  We spent a lot of the week lounging around, running, going to the YMCA, and seeing the sites around town.  Some really fun things we saw were the Grand Ole opry hotel, the Grand Ole Opry, Vanderbilt University and the children's hospital (where I will one day hopefully get a job), some really amazing malls, downtown Nashville (wild horse saloon & coyote ugly), not to mention other little hidden treasures that only the townies know about it.

It was a fantastic trip! We did a lot, but rested a lot too.  It was also really great, because Ryan and Laura wanted to run and workout all the time too, so I didn't feel like I was putting anybody out.

We drove back Saturday and hung out that night in Waynesboro.  It's only an 8 hour drive, but even that can be tiring after a while.  I moved to Richmond on Sunday and started my clinical the next day.  I'll post more about that later this week!

But the beauty of grace...

...is that it makes life not fair.

Good lyrics from a great song that always seems to remind me of God when I need Him the most. I'm a really lucky person.  I say that because I've been given grace from my Savior even though I am absolutely unworthy.  But in my mind, that's what grace is - undeserved forgiveness.

Which leads me to my next thought.  Forgiveness.  Knowing when to ask for it and when to give it are two equally hard concepts that I know all too well.  I'm trying to figure out which one is easier to handle, but in all honesty, I don't think I could give an answer.  It's definitely something I need to work on in my life however difficult it may be.  I'm learning right now to let things go, let disappointments fade, and handle every situation with the grace that it does or does not deserve.  

We all I make mistakes, we all I disappoint, we all I lash out, cry out, and hurt others whether or not those are the intentions we have my intentions.  And though the pain involved often seems greater in the moment, in the aftermath once the smoke has settled, there's grace sitting patiently waiting for you me.  I really need to step up my game and learn to be more forgiving and less demanding and incredibly more giving of grace.  

2 weeks

2 weeks and life changing events later, I can barely believe it's already June.  It feels like I just started my graduate OT program, that I just moved into a new apartment with new roommates, that I just started going to Valley Church, and that I just started making some really incredible and meaningful friendships.

But believe it or not, in 2 weeks I move out of Harrisonburg and start my full time clinicals, I leave some of the really great (and not so great) people that I've met here and grown to love, and I'll be on the search for a brand new church.

The great thing is I'll be in Richmond so for 2 weeks, Kim and I will be able to run, work, live, and complain about life together.  Another great thing is that I'm only an hour and a half from my incredibly cute and growing sisters.  12 weeks seems like an awfully long time though.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm scared about the fieldwork/clinicals and not doing well, or if I really am just having an issue with change.  Most likely the latter.  For 6 1/2 years, I've come to know and love JMU.  I've lived here since I was 17.  My life is planned out here and things are comfortable.

But I'll admit, I'm excited for change, the new possibilities, and the opportunities that await. Never in my life have I been more content in so many aspects.  My relationship with Christ is the most important and influential thing I have to hold on to.  And though it's taken me a while to get where I'm at, I've never been more satisfied and content.  I know God has a plan for me and that it's greater than anything that I could ever come up with for myself.  In His time, all things will work out and I'm in no rush to grow up faster than I have to.

I'm in a good place right now.  And in 2 weeks, the journey continues.