At this point in the semester, lack of motivation is in full swing. It's so hard to sit down and get any kind of work done. When I hit these mid-semester slumps, I usually lean on reading my Bible to help get me through them. So go ahead and put some worship music on in the background and let God's word comfort you for a few minutes, we're about to take a look at some of my favorite Bible verses.

1. "When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Psalm 118:5-6 (NIV)

Often times when I'm facing a mountain of homework and papers to do, I am feeling hard pressed. I love these verses because I replace the word "mortals" with "homework" and it makes it a little better!

2. "The minute I said, 'I’m slipping, I’m falling,' your love, God, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up." Psalm 94:18-19 (MSG)

A good reminder that God will always be there to catch you when you're falling.

3. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

From the mouth of Jesus himself! This will always be one of my favorite Bible verses because of the way He simply says that he will give us rest. We don't have to try to earn it. He didn't say "Go out and do *insert action here* and then once you're finished I'll give you rest", all we have to do is come to Him just the way we are.

4. "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9 (NIV)

AKA, He's got your back. When you start to freak out about your midterm, go ahead and run to Him to find peace.

5. “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27 (NIV)

Okay, you really have to go read this verse in the context of the entire chapter because it makes it so much better. I love how God was all like, "Okay, come on now. Let's be real, when I have ever failed to come through on my promises?"

6. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

I. LOVE. THIS. BIBLE. VERSE. Oh my gosh, the amount of times I have doubted God's plans for my life is embarrassing. But every time, I'm reminded of this scripture and I find total peace in the fact that God has NEVER let me down. His plans for our lives are so much bigger than any plans we could ever dream up on our own.

7. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Psalm 3:5 (NIV)

Another good one about trusting that God's plan is so much greater than we could imagine.

8. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37 (NIV)

I'm not going to lie to you, every time I think about this verse for longer than two minutes I end up in a puddle of tears. No matter what we do, no matter what challenges we face, we will ALWAYS be more than conquerors because God himself loves us so dearly. *Cue all the tears*

9. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2 (NIV)

Yep. He definitely just told me to be happy whenever that one professor won't cut me a break. This one is hard to swallow sometimes, but the goodness of the outcome outweighs the actual trials! When we go through hard times, we can learn how to deal with them in better ways.

10. "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ." Philippians 3:8 (NLT)

College is a time full of changes and finding yourself, so it's important to remember that no matter what, God's love is worth so much more than most of the things we'll experience.

11. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. LIKE, SO IMPORTANT THAT I WILL BE YELLING FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS. GOD WANTS YOU TO CAST YOUR ANXIETY ON HIM! GOD CARES ABOUT YOUR WELL BEING! GOD CARES ABOUT YOUR GRADES ON THOSE MIDTERMS! HE WANTS TO BE THERE FOR YOU! HE WANTS TO TAKE YOUR ANXIETY AND WORRIES AWAY! PLEASE DO IT! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

Okay. I'm done yelling now!

At the end of the day, please remember that school is not the end-all-be-all in this world, and that you are only human. Always try your best, but remember to be kind to yourself and to take care of yourself. Above all else, remember that God loves you so much. There is nothing you could do to make Him love you any more or any less than He already does.