Thursday, July 11, 2013

a rainstorm with a rainbow at the end


Today had a pretty rough start. It began this morning after midnight.  I had taken Abigail to the Justin Bieber concert for her birthday (oh my gosh was her reaction fun! happy belated birthday, baby!) and didn't get home until after midnight.  I had ringing noises in my head and a huge headache from all the noise (daaaang, those girls can scream!).  I then woke up at 8 in the morning to study a little more before a midterm exam I had for a summer science class.  I was so exhausted. 

Pause. I'm terrible at science.  It just ain't my cup of tea.  And my brain isn't wired for it. At all.  So I was already stressed out about this test going into it, hoping for a good grade.  Continue

I drove to the library to take my off-campus test and walked into the doors with two number-two, freshly sharpened pencils in my hand (I love pens, so I found myself on a scavenger hunt this morning for pencils WITH erasers).  I walked up to the resource desk and bam. Thunder storm hit. 

The lady issuing me my test hadn't received the test and wouldn't be in the library until later that day.  They couldn't get ahold of her to see if it was sent out that morning.  Thunder.  I could come back in the afternoon and take it if it was sent. If not, I would have to explain it to my professor and try to reschedule for another day. Lightning.  

Cue the rain (err, my tears). 

I couldn't believe it.  I called my dad.  He tried to calm me down, saying it wasn't the end of the world.  We could recover from it. Breathe. Everything was going to work out.  Call Mom.  She tried to calm me down, saying we would figure it out.  We would call the science department, get it all sorted out. Breathe. We would fix it. 

Breathe (but keep the rain/tears comin').

I drove to Starbucks, hoping the empty calories of a coffee would calm me down (I don't know if you can tell, but I don't handle stress or curveballs very well).  The library called me before I made it into Starbucks, saying they received my test and could come in at any time to take it. 

Cue more rain (tears of relief). Thunder. Lightning. Enter God.

Hello, Kelsey.  God was in complete control of the situation the entire time.  Just yesterday my mom and I were talking about how when a stressful situation is thrown at me I prefer to dig my head in the sand and wait it out, hoping it will resolve on its own.  Spoiler alert. Most of the time, it doesn't.  We've been trying to work on not burying my head in the sand.  It's so hard.  But today forced me to face this challenge.  To call the science department and send out an email making sure my exam was sent out.  To be reminded and trust that God is always, 100% of the time taking care of us and continually helping us to grow as humans. 

It was all going to be okay.  Whether I didn't get the opportunity to take the exam or if it was going to have to be rescheduled. This one test wasn't going to make or break it for me; it was going to determine nothing other than a portion of my grade for this class.  

I drove back to the library, ready to walk back into the building and take my exam.  Mom suggested I take five minutes to sit in my car and pray, to de-stress, to refocus. 

Cue rainbow.

As I was sitting there praying, two guys got into the car next to me and sat there.  I didn't think much of it (other than that it was weird they were just sitting in their car).  I finished praying and thanking God, checked my eyes to make sure they had de-puffed from all that rain (I mean tears) and got out of my car with my pencils back in my hand.  

I was almost to the library doors when one of the guys had gotten out of the car and jogged up to catch up to me.  He said I had looked pretty upset and just wanted to make sure that I was okay.  I told them it had been a rough morning for it being before 10am, and so was just praying in my car to de-stress.  He then said that he would be praying for me and I ended up retelling him the events of the morning.  There I was, in the parking lot of the library, sobbing to this poor guy who just wanted to make sure I was okay. He said he would pray for me, and then asked if he could give me a hug before my test.

Cue double rainbow.  CUE THE DOUBLE RAINBOW.

I love hugs.  I love them so much.  You can convey so much through a hug.  I believe without a doubt in my mind that God sent that guy to me today before my test to give me a hug, to remind me that everything was going to be okay.  And it wasn't a little tiny, wimpy, "eww, I'm afraid of germs", hug.  It was a full on huge bear hug; the kind I like best.  

He told me he would be praying for me, and that I could do it, I could rock this test.  Then with one last hug, he was gone and I was taking my test.  

My confession: That hour was such a whirlwind of emotions.  But I am so thankful for that whirlwind and for that reminder that God is always in control.  Today's rainstorm sure did bring me a pretty rainbow. 


and I'll leave you with this
(only) photo of Baby and I at the JB
concert.  Unfortunately, I don't quite
deem JB important enough for an entire post
(some of the girls at the concert would faint
at me saying that. How dare I!) ,
so here is a photo of us two girls before the concert.


1 comment:

  1. i can only imagine how loud it would be in a room full of young girls and Justin Bieber!!

    your morning sounds incredibly stressful, not stuff you want to be dealing with before an exam :( I'm glad it all worked out for you in the end.

    ReplyDelete