One to a Thousand

"With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," states 2 Peter 3:8. Looking back, I understand that just like Narnian time is different from the time of this world, life does not progress at a uniform rate.

Some chapters of my life lasted for several years. I would study the same way, live the same way, dress the same way, and grow in the same direction for quite some time before changes crept in. This past year, however, has been the exact opposite. I feel that I have lived one lifetime within a year.

It is now past the middle of July...more than a year since I left the Philippines for North America, to visit some relatives and eventually enter college. I had thought that the whole plan was simple. I go, I study, I come back, I go again, I study again, I graduate, I come back. But God had so much more in store.

This past year has affected me mentally. I have learned to discipline my mind to juggle many subjects and keep at pace with classmates. I have learned to write papers instead of stories, to take do projects instead of give an oral report to mom.

This year has altered me socially and emotionally. I've had to live in a dorm with hundreds of girls who are not family, around people who could hate you and be both up front or behind your back about it. I have also met people who have changed my life forever. I have encountered friendship and love beyond anything I used to hear or say or feel...from individuals I formerly never even knew existed.

This year has impacted me spiritually. When left alone in a foreign country, almost completely free from the enormous accountability I've had as a pastor's daughter...I had to learn to follow God on my own. I had to follow God whether people saw me doing it or not; I had to learn to form my own convictions about my Christian walk.

One year. One lifetime. If I did not have God, I would not have survived. I thought I knew what to expect...but God has so, so, so much more in store.

God's is beyond all time zones, all space...beyond all limitations. He could work miracles in my life within one year, and He could do that again and again. May I never try to limit God in my mind. There will be times when a thousand years feel as slow as a day, there will be times when a day feels as life-changing as a thousand years. Either way, God's in control. His ways are higher than mine.