The Application

"He has shown you, O Ruth, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."  ~Micah 6:8, with edits by me

Today I received the full IV application. I had two months to complete 39 short answer essay questions as well as collect references. I admit that it was a little overwhelming even though I knew to expect something intense. My friend was also starting this application process and we were able to Skype and talk about the application and it really helped me to know that I wasn't alone.

The questions I found most challenging were ones where I had to write an outline for a talk. It was hard to come up with something when I couldn't clearly see the audience in my head. But I soldiered on.  Eventually, I found that breaking the application into manageable chunks, such as a question a day was a much easier way to complete it. All together, it was overwhelming, but just one question each day was do-able and gave me a sense of satisfaction once I had completed it. This also took away my stress about completing the application and allowed me to focus on answering each question as clearly and honestly as I could. 

Filling out the application was a great time of learning. 

God is with us even in the small things. There is no way I would've completed the application without Him. He helped me with answers I didn't think I even knew and He gave me the strength to take each day one at a time.

The need for scripture. My quiet time each morning was filled with scripture that directly applied to the question I had to answer that day. I then was able to use the passage to help me answer the question. God was giving me my daily bread just when I needed it.

The importance of going to God first for answers. I avoided posting on social media about the ups and downs of the application process. This forced me to share my struggles with God before anyone else. God really rewarded me in this by comforting me in a way that posts on my status couldn't.  He gave me His peace and confidence to keep going even when it was hard. And he helped me with the words to say even as He did with Moses.

Throughout the application, I was thankful for SO many blessings in my life.

1. A supportive family.

2. A Bible study group that prayed for and encouraged me.

3. A Christian upbringing.

4. So many examples of God's faithfulness in my life that I was forced to reflect on.

5. Above all, the grace that God so willingly held out to me through His son, Jesus.

One night, one of the leader's at small group said to me as I was talking about the application, "Wow, at least you know you're going to be working with a group of awesome people since they all had to go through this same process!" And somehow that small statement was just the perfect word of encouragement to me.