God is in the Desert.

My dear friend whom I have been so blessed to know better through this class,
I am so proud of you and amazed at how hard you have worked this quad. Your schedule overwhelms me just thinking about how busy you must be. What with your work, chorale, all your really hard classes, you are doing so much! Its so different living in the dorms too, having all those people always popping in to hang out and doing raids and being so socially active. Whew!
But the point of this is not to stress you out, but to encourage you. I felt so weird giving you advice how to live a less stressful life the other day at dinner; i am so not the one to ask! This semester God has blessed me with less stress, but i was thinking over it and was remembering how much i felt like i was floundering my spring semester sophomore year. This passage got me through so much.

Isaiah 41:8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

11 Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

I dont understand a whole lot about the old testament or anything, but i love that we, who are called the new israel, have been chosen and pulled from the ends of the earth, God calls us Friends, and God takes us by our right hand.

17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

This one i love too, the imagery is just beautiful. Just like in chapel, God makes a stream in the desert. God is in the desert.

So, I just had you on my mind and wanted to encourage you. Hope this helps.