Draw Near Despite the Pain

Thank goodness it is almost the end of the semester. But, even as I say that, I know that when next semester rolls around, I am going to want time to slow down because I know I won't be ready to leave this place. I will be fine with leaving the work and papers (only to go on to more and more in grad school haha) but I know that I won't be ready to leave this place. There are so many memories here and I have made some amazing friends and met my incredible boyfriend. Plus it holds a ton of family memories, seeing as how I've been coming here since my oldest sister was a freshman here, and I was in 5th grade. Good times. Anyways, all I know is I'm ready for a break and a chance to chill without thinking of the million things I have to do.

So yesterday, Jake and I went to go see the new Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader...and it was AMAZING! Seriously those movies are so incredible and the parallels with Biblical truths are unreal and they bring me to tears. There was this one specific part (and I'll try not to give too much away) after Eustace was a dragon and Aslan changed him back that really struck me. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace and some others were in a boat and Edmund asked Eustace, "So what was it like, when Aslan changed you back?" Eustace responded (and this is what gets me), "No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it myself. Then he came towards me. It sort of hurt – but it was a good pain, like when you pull a thorn from your foot.” I just can't get over this. How many times have we tried to change ourselves into who we think we're supposed to be instead of surrendering and letting God come towards us and transform us according to his incredible power and love??

It reminds me of the song "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle, and the fact that being changed by God may not always be the most enjoyable thing, and we may feel pain, or feel like we're broken. But the reality is that He is bigger than any of  that and He will always do what is best for us in the end. It is up to us to trust in Him and His plan. Eustace felt pain when Aslan came toward him, and he didn't understand what was happening because of his limited perspective. But then, when he opened his eyes again, he was transformed back into a boy and although it did involve some pain, it wasn't an altogether terrible pain, and in the end it brought about the desired result. If only we could trust God enough so that we could be willingly transformed into the image of His Son, and maybe with a little less pain.