I've been slackin', I've been slackin' (Beyoncé voice)

I've been slacking with a lot of things: socializing, blogging, eating healthy, but most importantly, reading my Bible. Yesterday it kind of dawned on my how much I've been slacking off. The only time I truly actually read it is the Verse of the Day on my Bible app and that's only because I have a widget for it on my screen so it's the first thing I see when I unlock my phone. Which is like The Ultimate Laziest Way of reading the Bible ever, haha. And if it's relevant to whatever is going on in my life, I'll go read the chapter. But still, terrrrrrible, sarah. terrible.
Last night, I realized that I seriously have got to get serious about reading it. I notice a change in my day when I do read it. School and life is kinda crap right now, so this morning after I woke up, I opened my Bible to a random chapter. The random chapter that I opened to was Lamentations 3. I started reading it, and wow it was so depressing. Like legit depression. Like if the person was talking like this today out loud, he'd be sent to a therapist (I'm assuming the author is Jeremiah because the Babylonians were destroying Jerusalem and Jeremiah was the prophet at the time and a witness to all the destruction). but it was pretty relatable to my life. These past 9ish months have been hell for me academically and the verses are basically what I think sometimes. I was like, "dang I'm not the only person going through this!" Then I found The Words:

21 Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
    to the yoke of his discipline:

28 Let them sit alone in silence
    beneath the Lord’s demands.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
    for there may be hope at last.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
    and accept the insults of their enemies.

31 For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people    or causing them sorrow.

wowowowowowowowow. [sorry I'm just writing exactly what was in my head at the time] How beautiful!!! These verses are ON FREAKING POINT and EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I lose hope a lot, but I have learned that my life does not become any easier or better from lacking in faith and hope. During these trials and tribulations that we all go through in life, I am realizing that it is just a rough patch. It's kind of life a fairytale or chick flick: there's that conflict or sad part, but then at the end the happy ending comes! Well, obviously, real life is nothing like a fairytale, but you get my point. God does not take pleasure in seeing us sad and unhappy... He is always there to comfort and console us. As long as we still stay close to Him and not stray and lose faith! Even when we don't, it's kinda amazing how He still has our backs even if it doesn't feel like it. And later on in this chapter of Lamentations, it says why should we sit around and complain? It shows our lack of trust in God, and shouldn't we be trusting the God? I complain A LOT and as I write this, I realize I should probably really try to stop cause it hasn't helped much now that I think of it, haha.
This chapter was literally God speaking to me, and I really encourage you to read the entire chapter!! One thing I've learned from reading the Bible is that, we are not the only ones struggling in life. Despite the time gap, people back in the day went through similar stuff and it's kinda crazy, haha. So if you're like me and have been slacking, go read a random chapter! It's amazing what you can open up to and see how it relates to your life. Or get that Bible app and start there. Well I hope this little rant or whatever I just wrote helps you through whatever you're going through. Or I hope you at least liked this post. :P

oh and extra prayers would be appreciated because summer classes at Auburn University are kicking my butt and I highly encourage you guys not to take summer classes if it's not at a community college unless you're like super smart and work great under stress (which I don't)

xoxo,
sarah