I Live in a Sauna

Yesterday I received this text from my roommate: 

Here, let me explain.

Monday night we came back to our dorm from a relaxing Easter weekend and before I left to visit with friends, I quickly turned the temp down a little bit, and came back realizing that it hadn't gotten much cooler. A couple days passed, and again, I realized that our room was still pretty hot. But it's getting warmer outside, so I thought maybe I was just going crazy and was just pretty warm in our room all the time.

Finally Emily came into the room the other day and said, "Is it really hot to you, too?!" And we checked the thermostat to see what was wrong. Apparently it's broken, and we don't know how to fix it. Lucky for us, maintenance hasn't come fix it yet. 

Our room is hot, ya'll. 

Like, we've been waking up at night sweating.

We took our fan and put it on the ground, and we took the mattresses and put them on the ground, so the fan blows on both of us at night now. I will say, it's like a little sleepover every night. But the excitement is quickly overshadowed by the fact that it's still steaming hot, and we currently can't walk anywhere in our room. 

My roommate and I have a tendency to jokingly complain about petty things. But unfortunately, I've let myself turn this into actual complaining. Everyday I wake up and I find myself upset by my current living conditions. I'm grumpy because I have to blow my hair dry in the sauna. As if I wasn't hot already. Or that I can't sit at my desk and do my hair/makeup because my mattress currently has my chair locked away under my desk. 

I dreamt about my beautiful China babies last night, and woke up feeling as if I was in China again. The sweat on my brow (ew, I know) reminded me of the hot nights spent tossing and turning in the hotel when the air conditioning turns off around 1 am. 

And that's when it occurred to me. It was as if God was giving me a big slap in the face. 

MEGAN. You're being so petty.

I was reminded of my sweet babies in the orphanage that don't have central air or heat. Suddenly I had flashbacks to summers spent in the orphanage, seeing the sweat drip off the kids' faces, and the heat rash all over the babies' skin.

And I started thinking of all the things that I am so privileged to have. I started to kick myself thinking of how broken and changed I am every year when coming back from my missions trips, seeing the living conditions these kids live in, but how quickly I slip back into my homey life back in the States. I realized that I take so much for granted. 

Instead of being upset that my room might be a couple (or 10) degrees hotter than I would like, I should be thankful for everything that I do have. Like, the fact that I even have a room to live in, a bed to sleep on, an education, a job, and so much more. 

And as it happens, when I sat down to do my quiet time today, a notecard with this verse fell out of my Bible:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

~1 Thessalonians 15:16-18~

Okay, God. I get it. I haven't had a joyful attitude, and I haven't been thankful through it all. 

And I find that not only in this very minor situation, but even throughout this semester there have been times when I have forgotten this verse. There have been days when I have been devastated and angry about my situation instead of finding joy and thanking Him for my circumstances, thanking Him for this chance to learn, and to grow in deeper dependence on Him. 

Well, today I choose joy. A joy that only comes from relying on my savior and being thankful through very circumstance. Today I choose to fall into opportunities to rely on the Lord instead of resisting them. 

And on the bright side, I only have a week and a half left in the dorm room. And hey, maybe I'll lose some of that Freshman 15 from being in the sauna at night ;).