1st Week at Covenant

So I have decided to resurrect this blog while I am here at Seminary. Not only so that people can know what is going on here in St Louis, but also just as a way for me to process everything that is going on in my life and what the Lord is doing in it.

I have been in St Louis for 2 weeks now and for the most part it’s been really good. The only misfortune happened only 4 days after I moved. I was on campus when I received a call from the police telling me that mine and 3 other apartments in my complex had been broken into. Needless to say that was pretty stressful and scary but the Lord has really blessed me despite of all of that. The only thing that was taken from my apartment was my digital camera (thus why I have not posted any pics on FB of my new place.) The first couple of nights after the break-in happened were a bit nerve-wracking but the Lord has been giving me comfort and is definitely letting me feel safe while here.

I have met some great people since being here. I am truly blessed in that there are 6 women who are entering into their first year as M.Div students (or as someone told me there are 6 M.Divas.) It’s so great to have other women to walk alongside as we go through this long and arduous process. Being a woman and being MDiv is a rarity here at Covenant, so I am really looking forward to getting to know these women and their ministries.

In my short stint here at Covenant, the Lord has just continually shown me that I am meant to be here. There have been several times when I have questioned why I came here and even started to wonder if I should have gone to a more “prominent” or “well-known” seminary like Trinity. But each time I would doubt, the Lord would show me once more that No, I was meant to be here in St Louis and Covenant. The most surprising, if you will, revelation came in my Intro to Counseling class on Thursday. Intro to Counseling is the one class that going into it I did NOT want to take. It was merely a requirement that I had to get through my 1st Year and then I would be done with it, never to return to it again. I want to study theology and history and languages, not feelings and emotional crap like that I thought. I know, it’s a horrible way to think. I also feared it because it will require me to confront some of the fears and anxieties in my life that I don’t want to. I am a very prideful person, a very private person, and I like keeping my crap to myself. But as class started, Dr Winters read from a letter that a pastor had written to his professors at the seminary he had attended. Though I cannot remember the exact wording of the letter it essentially said “You taught me exegesis and homiletics, Greek and Hebrew, how to prepare sermons, but what do I do with the teenager who comes to me telling me he is considering suicide? You didn’t prepare me for family whose marriage is in shambles because of allegations of adultery” etc.

It was in this moment that I realized once again why I am here at Covenant. Well yes I am hear to learn theology, exegesis, church history, etc I am primarily here to learn how to do ministry and to learn how to minister to people in the mist of life. Here is what I wrote in my notebook after he read the letter: “Life isn’t always about how much theology you know or the exegetical skills you may possess. Life is much more than that- much deeper, much fuller, full of pain and despair. Life happens in the brokenness of this world.” So in the mist of the pain and struggle of this world, we as believers and ministers of the Gospel, need to know how to approach these situations. I pray that Intro to Counseling will begin to show me how to deal with the crappiness of life.

Alright that’s all I have for right now, as I feel like I’ve already rambled enough. I hope to keep up with this more that when I first started this blog a year and a half ago, and hopefully it will be edifying and glorifying to the Lord.

In Christ,
Jessica