Dear Elise

At the end of 8th grade my english teacher had our class write a letter to ourselves about our goals and expectations for high school (that she would send to us sometime during our high school career). Mine was sent to me last year, but I just discovered it again the other day. As I was reading it I found every bit of it almost exactly relevant to my life.


Dear Elise,
I hope you enjoy high school and not dread the wait the entire summer (not sure what I was trying to say...?). I hope you do what you most want to do but also what's best and what's right. I hope you learn from whatever wrong turns you take and have the courage to do the right thing no matter what. I hope you won't be too stressed throughout the homework loads (APUSH hasn't killed me yet :)) or worry about what bad things could happen. Instead trust that everything will be alright. Finally have faith that God created this whole experience for a purpose. If life gets tough, know that God has a plan for you.
I expect you to keep up your good grades so that you may get into a great college. I expect you to follow your goals and dreams--no matter how impossible they might seem; always stick to it. I also expect you to have perseverance in every activity--whether it be soccer, homework, track, etc. 
I have no fears for you (very bold elise!.. haha), just be careful in your choices and pick the right crowd to hang out with. 


always, 
Elise Ranck

The Opposite Way

Today I was listening to some Leeland and I stumbled upon a song called The Opposite Way. It's relevant to my last post, so I thought you should listen to it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYFbn-wVq4&feature=related

the power of God's will

Recently I have been wrestling of the idea of God's will vs. my own will. At my high school there are some teachers that most kids don't want to have, in particular, one of the AP US History (APUSH) teachers (who gives A LOT of homework). I was so excited to see that my schedule did not include this difficult teacher. The teacher listed on my schedule was, supposedly, one of the easier APUSH teachers, a Christian, and does not give as much homework. Those are three very great things (especially the Christian aspect!). A few months ago I found out that the awesome teacher I was supposed to have third period was going to take over the yearbook class third period. This as you can imagine was a little upsetting. At this point I did not know what teacher was going to replace her, but I was so bummed about not having the chance to experience her class. Soon following this announcement, I found out that my future APUSH teacher was going to be the most difficult APUSH teacher (the one I mentioned earlier). I was very stressed for a week or so and I did everything I could to try to get out of it. I talked to my counselor multiple times and even went as far as to talking to the vice principal. Every answer was no, which was not an answer I could accept. I prayed about it every night, but it wasn't until Thursday bible study in the Jesus Utility Vehicle (JUV) that I finally saw that I was fighting for what I wanted and not what God had willed for me. Austin, one of my good friends (who is also in the JUV bible study), talked about how sometimes what we want is not what God has in mind. He said how sometimes we are stuck in situations that suck at the time but that we are stuck in those situations for a purpose (a purpose much greater than our own!). These words hit home. I knew that God was speaking to me through Austin and I knew that he was right. With God's will in mind I began preparing myself mentally and emotionally for this upcoming challenge. Strangely enough, today, during second period I got a note from the office to go see my counselor. I was very surprised to see a note from counselor as I had not requested to see her. As I walked into her office she immediately said, without any context, "A new department has opened up." Totally confused (although I thought it might have something to do with APUSH), I asked her to clarify and she simply said I had been put into a regular US history class. I told her thank you, but it was not very meaningful. I didn't feel at all excited or happy that I had escaped from the hard APUSH teacher, as many would think (including me). I felt nervous as if I had just made the worst decision of my life. After talking to my friends about it, I came to the conclusion that I had already committed myself to APUSH and that I must follow through with it. So I went back to my counselor, hoping she wouldn't give me grief and told her I wanted to stay in APUSH. She didn't give me grief, in fact, she encouraged the idea and gave me the option to switch into regular history if APUSH didn't work out. Although I am not yet completely stress free, I can rest in the fact that I am serving God's will.
Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.