Seminary starts up again

This week seminary started again. I have three regular classes (OT Theology, Adv Church History, Intro to Missions) that I'll be attending throughout the semester. I also need to hold myself accountable for accomplishing my Graduate Research Seminar tasks. And I also am holding myself accountable to re-learn Hebrew on my own, using a book/workbook combination that I bought while I was still in GA. We'll see how it goes.

Sadly, I feel really pressured by school. I enjoy school, but part of the reason I haven't written a new blog in a while is the pressure I feel. But God has given me a new sense of grace, too. I don't expect much grace from the professors in terms of grading; their job is to assign a grade I deserve. But if I do worse than I ought to - or than I feel I ought to - in any of my classes, God isn't through with me. He's seeking to grow me in daily contentment, helping me to make people's needs a higher priority than completed assignments. Obviously, there's a balance. He's given me a job to do as I attend seminary, and I intend to do my best. But the assignment God has given me is not only seminary. It's life. It's marriage and family, church, service, neighborliness, part-time work ... and seminary. And it's living all these things out in godliness. It's so easy to think I'm here for seminary. But God reminds me of a bigger picture. And there's a lot of grace in that picture. I can't be perfect. But God is growing me and loving me in the process.