Moving into the midterm season it is very easy to get stresses out! A friend of mine asked, "even in Seminary?!?" and I replied OH YES!!! In doing the work of the Lord, preparing ourselves, and struggling to become equipped for the field, the enemy would love nothing more than to distract us with every trick in the book---and STRESSING OUT definitely falls in this category. The irony is that the END IS ALREADY decided!!! God has the ultimate victory, and in being here of HIS direction we WILL make it, although it's not always the easiest thing to keep that in the forefront of our minds. I've learned (and am constantly learning) to actively SEEK and TAKE ADVANTAGE of the tools the Lord places in our midst to help us through, and right now one of those resources is my cohort. Realizing and ACTING like we know that we are all in this together, and making a POINT to be there for each other is KEY to our collective success. This is true in both spiritual AND practical matter--- YES, EVEN MIDTERMS (smile). It's so encouraging to be able to feel a part of a collective in grad school and I can say that I truly do here. Now, with different personalities and learning styles, there are clearly differences between us, but I am so grateful that there is always at least a few people with whom study styles overlap and that you can make sense of all the material. This may seem like a 'silly' blog, but seriously I could NOT IMAGINE how difficult it would be to thrive in any Doctoral Program without support and I am definitely feeling the Love right now!