words

To be honest, my brain kind of hurts. It is not that this week was rough or anything, but the pace has significantly grown compared to last week-- which will most likely be noticeable through the length of my blog posts in the future. As I mentioned last week, grad school is no joke, and so, when I am not learning inside the classroom, I am learning inside my apartment or a coffee shop.

Reminding myself to breathe has come into full effect because I would still call myself "lost" with this whole grad school thing. I mean, yeah, I am here and I am doing it...but I still feel lost. More like a robot I suppose. Yet, I do not think a robot would have the mental ability to take information in and comprehend it. I, on the other hand, am loving what I am learning. While it does feel like overload, at least I love it. The human body grows more and more fascinating to me the more I study; and hey, if you ask me, that is a pretty good indicator that I am right where I am supposed to be...or at least I am telling myself that, in hopes that it is the truth.

Anyhow, the only new part to this week was that I took a "hip hop dance class" on campus. I was super pumped because the school has a dance studio, but in my opinion this was false advertisement because it was more like zumba than dance. Regardless of all the other opinions out there, it is extremely difficult to convince a technically trained dancer of 20 years that zumba is dancing (or at least, for me it is). I still enjoyed myself, and definitely felt a whooping because of all the cardio. So for the sake of my health, I think I am going to go back! Who knows, maybe the Lord will bring about that dance ministry He told me to pray for back in the summer?

Having my friend from Ohio visit me this weekend was pretty neat! We had a lot of chill time, which is the best. We also went on a few fun adventures! My favorite part was going to THE spot in Pittsburgh that everyone talks about: Mount Washington. As I am sure you could have guessed, I took my camera. So, I give you, a Beyond Bethany Photography capture of Pittsburgh, my new home, a city that I am learning, and growing, to love:

Beautiful, isn't it? From all the way up here, God reminded me that I need to step back from my present circumstances and see that He is good, He is sovereign, He is in control, and He is calling me towards Him.

You may recall that my theme for this school year, or perhaps for all of grad school, is peace. In the morning, I pray peace over my day. Throughout the day, I pray peace in moments where I feel anxiousness or fear trying to creep in. Then, in the evening, I pray peace for a restful night. God is the only One keeping me peaceful because I surely could not do it on my own. Why am I not freaking out? Constantly crying? Calling people in a panic?-- because of His peace.

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I will leave you with a heads up that this lady has a birthday this week, so I will be traveling and therefore, not able/nor have time to write next Sunday. Apologies. But, be sure to tune in in two weeks for the next BeyondBethanytheblog update :) Peace.