Just a praise report.

I felt the need to tell everyone, who happens to follow this, just how much God has blessed me this past month. February is the worst month for me every year. Without fail, it always seems to be the month that gets me down. It's always the month that delivers doom and gloom into my life. Sometimes it extends into March like it did last year.

However true this is, I HAVE to tell you that even through the junk that February brought me, Jesus delivered me time and time again from all of my problems and failures. No other time in my life have I ever had such a heightened awareness of God's mercy and blessings.

This past month was full of stress, anxiety, hopelessness, and guilt. I got myself into all kinds of dilemmas because of my bad habits, self-esteem issues, and indecisiveness. To make it more specific and tangible, I'll lay out a couple of things that I was dealing with on the table.

My first term paper for Conrad C. Fink. This man is huge -- famous in the newspaper industry. Top professor extraordinaire. God had gotten me through two meetings with this man, face to face... expert to novice. Once I had that under my belt, I had the daunting task of interviewing experts for my term paper, gathering research, and finally writing a well-organized and well-written paper.

I cannot tell you just how concerned I was with writing the perfect paper for this 73-year-old man. He is the Trump of the newspaper business in my eyes. Imagine turning in your first financial report as a new business person to Trump -- lots of expectation and high standards. If you get it wrong in his eyes, you're out. Aside from watching "What Not to Wear" and going on trips to the pet store, this high standard is what kept me from sitting down and writing my paper. I was afraid of writing an atrocity.

I had a lot of people praying for me. A lot of prayer and a lot of pushing. I got my interviews done. I got my researching done. And on the night before it was due, I sat down and wrote 8 pages of my 12 page paper. Only GOD could have given me the strength and drive to get it all done. I turned it in, expecting a B- at most. It was sloppy, unorganized, and I didn't have enough interviews.

God surely did give me favor. I got an A+.

Let me just stress to you how CRAZY an A+ means to me in Fink's class. This is BIG. Thank you Jesus for such an amazing miracle.

That is just one story of how amazing God is. I won't go into the other things He's done for me recently, but I will tell you this: I easily bought a new car battery, I got a B+ on my mid-term, I have an AMAZING friend back after years of being separated, I was rescued from one of my biggest vices when I don't deserve any mercy from God, I'm spending much needed time with my family, and I'm feeling a certain peace that I know would not be possible amongst all of this chaos I find myself in.

"Everything is a lesser thing compared to You." God has EVERYTHING under control. He does not make us suffer, and intervenes when we have had enough. God is on our side; He loves us as a father adores his children. He loves us, even when we disobey Him. He gives us second and third chances when we really mess up. I could not ask for a better, more loving, amazing Father. I am so, so, so blessed and I can say that I am genuinely happy, even through the trials life brings.

Praise God.