Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who was praying for my ESL classes today. I got to share the gospel with both morning and evening classes. It went really well. I didn't particularly use my classroom as a platform for the gospel all summer, even though I could have been free to say/do as much as I wanted. I felt like I should use the time to teach my students English to the best of my ability and not try to use the time they paid for learning English to try to teach them spiritual things. However I asked the Lord for the chance to talk with them at some point about the gospel, and He gave me this idea. I ordered these gospel tracts:
May I Ask You a Question?
During the last 20-25 minutes of class this morning and evening, we read through the tracts together and talked about the vocabulary and concepts used in them. We had good discussions both times about sin and sin's penalty and what trust means. Three of the ladies in the evening class are believers, and it was lovely to go through the gospel with them because I knew they understood and they helped define things and were agreeing with me as I shared. Two of the ladies in the evening class are Chinese, and had never even seen or heard of a Bible before. That kind of rocked me. Wow. It was overwhelming to them to take in all the information about the gospel. Pray for them! The students who were from Peru or Mexico or Thailand just accepted the information, somewhat interestedly, and I could see it making sense to them at some points.
The church also orders Jesus films and booklets called Ultimate Questions in the students' languages to give to them. Thursday is our last class. We'll work for an hour and then have a potluck party and hand out certificates and the gifts. Wow, one more day of teaching. It's so hard to believe. I have a lot to reflect on and sort through. I'm so thankful that God gave me this opportunity. Thanks again, so much, for praying!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Reactive Airway Disease, aka Asthma
So, I've been unofficially diagnosed with asthma by about 4 different doctors in the past two years, and this fall I'm going to do something about it. It's not fun to cough for hours after rigorously exercising, or be sick for months because you're just not clearing up, or to experience pain and tightness in your chest and throat when you exercise outside for any length of time. You know it's a bad sign when you're halfway through an easy-ish walk with 15 lbs of books on your back and you gasp, "Ugh, I hate breathing!" I was laughing at myself after I said that, but it's true. I tend to despise breathing when I exercise. Then, I was looking up breathing exercises online for asthma and I saw this article that began by saying,
"In the normal breathing pattern the diaphragm moves downward when the person inhales and moves upward when the person exhales. An asthma patient breathes in an unnatural way by using only the upper portion of the chest. This is very unnatural for the system as the full chest is not used in this way."
Oops. I thought that was the normal way to breathe. I never use my stomach or diaphragm to breathe, only when I remember to do it. A lot of times when I exercise, I actually forget to breathe at all, and find I've been taking super shallow breaths with my mouth, not even using my nose.
So this is the most random blog entry in the world, possibly, but I was just thinking about it this evening. Mostly why I'm posting this is because I'm wondering if anyone knows anyone who treats asthma naturally and/or has any good breathing exercises to do to help develop in that area. I'm not a big fan of pumping my body full of steroids to "control" my asthma, especially since it's mostly exercise-induced and doesn't bother me regularly (unless I'm sick). I particularly could use a nutritionist in the Dubuque, Iowa, area. Ideas, anyone?
In other news...lol...I'm doing really well in Colorado. God is blessing me so richly with His grace and goodness. Only two more weeks of working and teaching! Wow. :) Thanks for praying! I'll write more soon.
"In the normal breathing pattern the diaphragm moves downward when the person inhales and moves upward when the person exhales. An asthma patient breathes in an unnatural way by using only the upper portion of the chest. This is very unnatural for the system as the full chest is not used in this way."
Oops. I thought that was the normal way to breathe. I never use my stomach or diaphragm to breathe, only when I remember to do it. A lot of times when I exercise, I actually forget to breathe at all, and find I've been taking super shallow breaths with my mouth, not even using my nose.
So this is the most random blog entry in the world, possibly, but I was just thinking about it this evening. Mostly why I'm posting this is because I'm wondering if anyone knows anyone who treats asthma naturally and/or has any good breathing exercises to do to help develop in that area. I'm not a big fan of pumping my body full of steroids to "control" my asthma, especially since it's mostly exercise-induced and doesn't bother me regularly (unless I'm sick). I particularly could use a nutritionist in the Dubuque, Iowa, area. Ideas, anyone?
In other news...lol...I'm doing really well in Colorado. God is blessing me so richly with His grace and goodness. Only two more weeks of working and teaching! Wow. :) Thanks for praying! I'll write more soon.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Giving Back
“Hey kids, come look at this.” My mom held out a check for $100. “God provided for our grocery shopping this week.” I grew up seeing God provide regularly for my family. We were a big family growing up on a small farm. Every farmer knows that he has no control over how his crops fare. He is dependent on the Lord, completely. And quite frankly, our farm income was never enough. But it honestly never concerned me, growing up, because I was taught, and saw daily, that God would provide.
I began to realize as I grew older that God used His people as the principle means of providing for each other, whether that was my grandparents giving us money one month or my parents giving my grandparents money the next, or a church unexpectedly giving us their old 12-passenger van when we had twins and outgrew our station wagon. Another thing I realized after becoming an adult was that God’s family takes care of each other socially, emotionally, and spiritually, too. We can’t make it on our own – we are created to need each other.
A beautiful verse about the New Testament era church is Acts 4:34: “There was not a needy person among them.” Of all the people in the world, those who are part of the body of Christ should be the ones who never have need of anything.
We have so many needs as human beings. Sometimes those are financial, such as in the case of the college graduate who doesn’t have a job yet and is struggling to meet his payments. Other times, those are social, like the young couple who haven’t had a night out in weeks because they don’t have anyone willing to watch their six-month-old baby, or the lonely single or widowed woman who doesn’t have a companion at home. Then there are emotional needs, like those of the teenagers who need older friends to love and listen to them, people who have already experienced that hard time in life. And people have real spiritual needs, like the man who is held in bondage with the sin of pornography and needs to be taught and held accountable as he deals with it.
Why are these needs being unmet? Why is anyone in the church struggling alone in any of these areas, or others? What is our excuse for not taking care of each other?
First, I would offer that we just don’t know each other well enough to know what needs we have. “Love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus said. Real love is sacrificial, like God’s love for us. It gives up one’s own time to spend with others in the body of Christ. It is willing to be both vulnerable with its own heart and bold to ask hard questions about how others are doing. For instance, it takes asking questions like “How are things going spiritually for you?” instead of a more simple “How are you doing?” This takes sacrifice, for some more than for others, but that doesn’t make it any less important for those who are less naturally social than others.
Then, the culture of the United States has trained our already self-centered hearts to focus even more on our own individual needs and the needs of our families exclusively. Paul wrote, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Our lives are busy, so we have got to be intentional about looking out for each other. A single person should never be alone at home on a Friday night, lonely and discouraged, while a couple with kids are tired and frazzled and wishing for time alone together on the same night. That is inexcusable. The couple should reach out to the single person by asking them to spend quality time with their precious kids (not to mention the quality of the relationship built with between the adults in the situation) and the single person should be giving their time and heart to the family by offering to love the kids and the parents for the evening. Serving has got to stop being a duty and needs to become the desire and joy of our hearts, to the point where the first thing we think of is “How can I serve?” not “What can I do to relax?” Furthermore, often we don’t even plan or think ahead, and being intentional means asking on Tuesday or Wednesday what we can do on the weekend instead of letting time slip by until it’s Sunday morning and we’ve wasted our Friday night and Saturday on ourselves without a purpose at all.
And finally, we are just stingy as a people. God commanded the children of Israel in the law to give, remembering how God had always taken care of them in the past. The problem is that we are faithless. If we truly believed God’s promises connected with giving, such as Luke 6:38: “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (envision a basket full of grain), we would give more and more all the time. If we give our last $20 to a woman in the church who has no money for groceries, we’re not going to be left without a way to pay our other bills. If we give up our weekend for the family who is moving and needs our time to help them, God will take care of the study time we have given up for our test on Monday morning. We may “suffer” a little poverty in money, time, and energy when we give to others (like getting a B on the test because we didn’t study as much as we might have, or not being able to get our usual Starbucks), but there is nothing wrong with that. God is able and eager to pay back in His way and time everything we give up for Him and His people.
I grew up being provided for by God’s family. As an adult, I’ve been privileged to be part of churches whom God has used to provide for me in many different facets. Am I giving back? Are you giving to God? Are our eyes open? Are we active and alert, every day looking out for the needs of the people around us? As the church of Jesus Christ, we have got to be this way. Otherwise, we are just like the world. We should never, without exception, be aware of the needs of others and ignore them or let them slide to the side because we forget about them in our business. When we act like this, John asks, “How does God’s love abide in [us]?”
“Freely you have received, freely give.” Let’s not deceive ourselves into believing that because we smiled and exchanged “how are you’s” with our brothers and sisters on Sunday and prayed for each others’ great uncle on Wednesday that we are really giving. Our God gave Himself completely to meet our greatest need of salvation and eternal life. What are we giving to meet the needs of others around us?
I began to realize as I grew older that God used His people as the principle means of providing for each other, whether that was my grandparents giving us money one month or my parents giving my grandparents money the next, or a church unexpectedly giving us their old 12-passenger van when we had twins and outgrew our station wagon. Another thing I realized after becoming an adult was that God’s family takes care of each other socially, emotionally, and spiritually, too. We can’t make it on our own – we are created to need each other.
A beautiful verse about the New Testament era church is Acts 4:34: “There was not a needy person among them.” Of all the people in the world, those who are part of the body of Christ should be the ones who never have need of anything.
We have so many needs as human beings. Sometimes those are financial, such as in the case of the college graduate who doesn’t have a job yet and is struggling to meet his payments. Other times, those are social, like the young couple who haven’t had a night out in weeks because they don’t have anyone willing to watch their six-month-old baby, or the lonely single or widowed woman who doesn’t have a companion at home. Then there are emotional needs, like those of the teenagers who need older friends to love and listen to them, people who have already experienced that hard time in life. And people have real spiritual needs, like the man who is held in bondage with the sin of pornography and needs to be taught and held accountable as he deals with it.
Why are these needs being unmet? Why is anyone in the church struggling alone in any of these areas, or others? What is our excuse for not taking care of each other?
First, I would offer that we just don’t know each other well enough to know what needs we have. “Love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus said. Real love is sacrificial, like God’s love for us. It gives up one’s own time to spend with others in the body of Christ. It is willing to be both vulnerable with its own heart and bold to ask hard questions about how others are doing. For instance, it takes asking questions like “How are things going spiritually for you?” instead of a more simple “How are you doing?” This takes sacrifice, for some more than for others, but that doesn’t make it any less important for those who are less naturally social than others.
Then, the culture of the United States has trained our already self-centered hearts to focus even more on our own individual needs and the needs of our families exclusively. Paul wrote, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Our lives are busy, so we have got to be intentional about looking out for each other. A single person should never be alone at home on a Friday night, lonely and discouraged, while a couple with kids are tired and frazzled and wishing for time alone together on the same night. That is inexcusable. The couple should reach out to the single person by asking them to spend quality time with their precious kids (not to mention the quality of the relationship built with between the adults in the situation) and the single person should be giving their time and heart to the family by offering to love the kids and the parents for the evening. Serving has got to stop being a duty and needs to become the desire and joy of our hearts, to the point where the first thing we think of is “How can I serve?” not “What can I do to relax?” Furthermore, often we don’t even plan or think ahead, and being intentional means asking on Tuesday or Wednesday what we can do on the weekend instead of letting time slip by until it’s Sunday morning and we’ve wasted our Friday night and Saturday on ourselves without a purpose at all.
And finally, we are just stingy as a people. God commanded the children of Israel in the law to give, remembering how God had always taken care of them in the past. The problem is that we are faithless. If we truly believed God’s promises connected with giving, such as Luke 6:38: “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (envision a basket full of grain), we would give more and more all the time. If we give our last $20 to a woman in the church who has no money for groceries, we’re not going to be left without a way to pay our other bills. If we give up our weekend for the family who is moving and needs our time to help them, God will take care of the study time we have given up for our test on Monday morning. We may “suffer” a little poverty in money, time, and energy when we give to others (like getting a B on the test because we didn’t study as much as we might have, or not being able to get our usual Starbucks), but there is nothing wrong with that. God is able and eager to pay back in His way and time everything we give up for Him and His people.
I grew up being provided for by God’s family. As an adult, I’ve been privileged to be part of churches whom God has used to provide for me in many different facets. Am I giving back? Are you giving to God? Are our eyes open? Are we active and alert, every day looking out for the needs of the people around us? As the church of Jesus Christ, we have got to be this way. Otherwise, we are just like the world. We should never, without exception, be aware of the needs of others and ignore them or let them slide to the side because we forget about them in our business. When we act like this, John asks, “How does God’s love abide in [us]?”
“Freely you have received, freely give.” Let’s not deceive ourselves into believing that because we smiled and exchanged “how are you’s” with our brothers and sisters on Sunday and prayed for each others’ great uncle on Wednesday that we are really giving. Our God gave Himself completely to meet our greatest need of salvation and eternal life. What are we giving to meet the needs of others around us?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Blessings
In my morning ESL classes I have four ladies who love to laugh. This morning we were all extremely tired for one reason or another, but we still had a good time because we laughed a lot. We were working on past continuous tense, which was in our book, and it was a lot for them to take in at their level, so we did it very slowly. In an hour we covered the basics of it. But the rest of the time we worked on extremely practical things. They were confusing prepositions a lot (it's a common error with Spanish speakers), so we worked on what they meant.
I walked TO the park.
We played AT the park.
There is a swingset IN the park.
My boy was ON the swing.
He got OFF OF the swing.
They loved that, because they take their kids to the park. They also learned the new vocabulary word "swingset." :)
We were talking about our families, then, and our ages, and whether or not I had a boyfriend, and we spent a lot of time laughing, which was lovely.
Then, today, I was blessed with a foot-tall stack of English textbooks from Valery and Arnaud, our Belgian foreign exchange students. They are leaving for Belgium Saturday, and don't want to bring their textbooks with them, so they generously gave them to me. There are about 15 of them, and some that were even on my list of books to get for future reference! Probably about $600 worth of textbooks here! Praise God!
Another blessing was that one of my students, who is from Thailand, who is in my classes, and I also tutor her, asked me if I would play ping pong with her. She goes to a church gym close by here where there are tables set up. So I spent an hour playing table tennis with her. Such fun. :) Her English is very low intermediate, so it's hard to converse (our tutoring times are a challenge), but we laughed a lot and she taught me some things about ping pong. Watch out, family, I might beat you all on Christmas Eve in our annual tournament. I'm going to get pretty good at this. :)
I walked TO the park.
We played AT the park.
There is a swingset IN the park.
My boy was ON the swing.
He got OFF OF the swing.
They loved that, because they take their kids to the park. They also learned the new vocabulary word "swingset." :)
We were talking about our families, then, and our ages, and whether or not I had a boyfriend, and we spent a lot of time laughing, which was lovely.
Then, today, I was blessed with a foot-tall stack of English textbooks from Valery and Arnaud, our Belgian foreign exchange students. They are leaving for Belgium Saturday, and don't want to bring their textbooks with them, so they generously gave them to me. There are about 15 of them, and some that were even on my list of books to get for future reference! Probably about $600 worth of textbooks here! Praise God!
Another blessing was that one of my students, who is from Thailand, who is in my classes, and I also tutor her, asked me if I would play ping pong with her. She goes to a church gym close by here where there are tables set up. So I spent an hour playing table tennis with her. Such fun. :) Her English is very low intermediate, so it's hard to converse (our tutoring times are a challenge), but we laughed a lot and she taught me some things about ping pong. Watch out, family, I might beat you all on Christmas Eve in our annual tournament. I'm going to get pretty good at this. :)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sometimes the most important things in life aren't on a to-do list...
...but sometimes they are.
I am just fascinated to serve a God who knows exactly what I need. It's been a bit of an ups-and-downsy week, one in which I have been learning to pray this prayer:
Give me greater capacities to suffer and to carry
This cross on my back as I walk to my personal Calvary.
(from a song by Flame)
I am learning what it means to be obedient and faithful to not complain even though I want to more than anything.
So today started out pretty rough: not a ton of sleep, landscaping day ahead of me, certain emotional struggles, etc. I had an hour before work and was miserable. One of the things that has been really hard lately is continually making to-do lists of things like:
Clean room
Write so-n-so
Call so-n-so
Review Greek
Read this
etc.
and I've thrown at least two of them away without accomplishing anything on them. There are not many things in everyday life that frustrate me more than not accomplishing goals, especially if there are no really good reasons for not getting them done, other than general business.
Well, back to this morning, it occurred to me that the day before had included breakfast, but not really lunch or dinner, other than chocolate cake for Arnaud's birthday party (he's a Belgian foreign exchange student living here). So I took time to cook a hearty breakfast of eggs with cheese and toast and milk to drink and thankfully no one else was up yet so I had a quiet meal, which was great.
Then, I just started working on my to-do list, mostly just by cleaning my horribly messy room, but also balancing my checkbook, and other things. It was ridiculous how much better I felt. When I drove to work, even though I hadn't read my Bible before leaving (not something I recommend regularly, but it worked this day), I felt so refreshed and ready for the day. Then I got to string trim instead of rake and haul leaves and branches, so the variation was great. I was introduced by one of my co-workers to a couple new guys as "the best worker we have, when Barney's not here." One of these times I'm going to figure out how to NOT be taken by surprise when a co-worker or employer says that, and point it back to Christ, but so far I'm always just a little stunned and don't know what to say.
The rest of my day, after work, consisted of scratching more things off my list, including a good time of reading and prayer with the Lord (although that wasn't on my list this time :).
God really takes good care of us. I'm very thankful for Him and just knowing that He knows my needs more than I could ever express to Him.
I am just fascinated to serve a God who knows exactly what I need. It's been a bit of an ups-and-downsy week, one in which I have been learning to pray this prayer:
Give me greater capacities to suffer and to carry
This cross on my back as I walk to my personal Calvary.
(from a song by Flame)
I am learning what it means to be obedient and faithful to not complain even though I want to more than anything.
So today started out pretty rough: not a ton of sleep, landscaping day ahead of me, certain emotional struggles, etc. I had an hour before work and was miserable. One of the things that has been really hard lately is continually making to-do lists of things like:
Clean room
Write so-n-so
Call so-n-so
Review Greek
Read this
etc.
and I've thrown at least two of them away without accomplishing anything on them. There are not many things in everyday life that frustrate me more than not accomplishing goals, especially if there are no really good reasons for not getting them done, other than general business.
Well, back to this morning, it occurred to me that the day before had included breakfast, but not really lunch or dinner, other than chocolate cake for Arnaud's birthday party (he's a Belgian foreign exchange student living here). So I took time to cook a hearty breakfast of eggs with cheese and toast and milk to drink and thankfully no one else was up yet so I had a quiet meal, which was great.
Then, I just started working on my to-do list, mostly just by cleaning my horribly messy room, but also balancing my checkbook, and other things. It was ridiculous how much better I felt. When I drove to work, even though I hadn't read my Bible before leaving (not something I recommend regularly, but it worked this day), I felt so refreshed and ready for the day. Then I got to string trim instead of rake and haul leaves and branches, so the variation was great. I was introduced by one of my co-workers to a couple new guys as "the best worker we have, when Barney's not here." One of these times I'm going to figure out how to NOT be taken by surprise when a co-worker or employer says that, and point it back to Christ, but so far I'm always just a little stunned and don't know what to say.
The rest of my day, after work, consisted of scratching more things off my list, including a good time of reading and prayer with the Lord (although that wasn't on my list this time :).
God really takes good care of us. I'm very thankful for Him and just knowing that He knows my needs more than I could ever express to Him.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Experiences of the week
Seeing my cousin get married. It was like watching a dream come true. LOVED it! :)
Spending 17 hours in the car with Leah C. She totally smashed me in every car game we played...Would you Rather, I Have Never, Count the Yellow Cars, etc. But we had a wonderful time.
Learning about how the World Cup works through the eyes of a South Korean woman. That was fun. I know nothing about soccer, so I liked learning about it. Pray for this lady, if you would. She is so, SO sweet and has been super encouraging to me. I would love to talk with her about spiritual things.
Watching a Little League baseball game and "dancing" (more like bouncing) at an outdoor concert in the park with Ceddy. Watching the kiddo is a highlight of my week. He's getting used to me, too! He didn't even cry this time. :D
Discovering a Christian coffee shop called "Solid Grounds" that is close-by here. It's a really nice sized one with even an outdoor balcony with flower boxes and umbrellas and everything. Great atmosphere. Now if I just had money to spend on coffee... :)
Being reminded that a "happy life" is not something I am entitled to. I don't deserve anything good...and everything good and happy I have and experience is from God's grace. When you forget that, you start being afraid of God's plan for you, because you forget that He is good even when He sends the hard things. It is good to be humbled and reminded of that.
Daniel 9.
Being told "You work harder than most Mexicans I know" by a Mexican American. :) Landscaping is good but it's hard, HARD work. Thankfully my hours have been reduced and I'm just doing mornings.
Feeling stir-crazy in the city for the first time this summer. I tried to go to Starbucks to study last night around 10 o'clock, but everything was closed...I ended up just driving around for like 20 minutes, and it felt oh, so good to get out of the house. Admittedly, I cried for a while, for Kansas and for the stars and for breathing room, but I survived. :)
Feeling excited and accomplished because my evening class is understanding the progressive tense ("I am working" vs. "I work."). We used Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. It was amazingly helpful. :D God is good. I'm learning that I'm just as dependent on Him in my English teaching as I am in my Bible teaching. It's a good thing to learn. And there's nothing quite like seeing the light that says "I understand!" in your students' eyes. :)
Spending 17 hours in the car with Leah C. She totally smashed me in every car game we played...Would you Rather, I Have Never, Count the Yellow Cars, etc. But we had a wonderful time.
Learning about how the World Cup works through the eyes of a South Korean woman. That was fun. I know nothing about soccer, so I liked learning about it. Pray for this lady, if you would. She is so, SO sweet and has been super encouraging to me. I would love to talk with her about spiritual things.
Watching a Little League baseball game and "dancing" (more like bouncing) at an outdoor concert in the park with Ceddy. Watching the kiddo is a highlight of my week. He's getting used to me, too! He didn't even cry this time. :D
Discovering a Christian coffee shop called "Solid Grounds" that is close-by here. It's a really nice sized one with even an outdoor balcony with flower boxes and umbrellas and everything. Great atmosphere. Now if I just had money to spend on coffee... :)
Being reminded that a "happy life" is not something I am entitled to. I don't deserve anything good...and everything good and happy I have and experience is from God's grace. When you forget that, you start being afraid of God's plan for you, because you forget that He is good even when He sends the hard things. It is good to be humbled and reminded of that.
Daniel 9.
Being told "You work harder than most Mexicans I know" by a Mexican American. :) Landscaping is good but it's hard, HARD work. Thankfully my hours have been reduced and I'm just doing mornings.
Feeling stir-crazy in the city for the first time this summer. I tried to go to Starbucks to study last night around 10 o'clock, but everything was closed...I ended up just driving around for like 20 minutes, and it felt oh, so good to get out of the house. Admittedly, I cried for a while, for Kansas and for the stars and for breathing room, but I survived. :)
Feeling excited and accomplished because my evening class is understanding the progressive tense ("I am working" vs. "I work."). We used Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. It was amazingly helpful. :D God is good. I'm learning that I'm just as dependent on Him in my English teaching as I am in my Bible teaching. It's a good thing to learn. And there's nothing quite like seeing the light that says "I understand!" in your students' eyes. :)
Friday, June 11, 2010
Faith to be strong
Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead
Give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it's hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope
Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us faith, faith to be strong
- A. Peterson
It's been a long week...but God's grace has surrounded me at every turn. I am working 25 more hours now than I was before...15 landscaping and 10 tutoring someone from Saudi Arabia for pay. So my life has kind of drastically changed, schedule-wise. That's been pretty tough. It's what the Lord brought me here for, though, so I am trusting Him to get me through it and learning to let go of my personal goals for my time in the next six weeks.
Yesterday I taught ESL for 7 hours, off and on throughout the day. Then it took me hanging out with a group of young people from the church for an hour and talking to a good friend and eating a bowl of brownies with raspberry ice cream and whipped cream and reading half the book of Daniel to be quiet and rested enough to go to sleep. So, see, even though it's tiring and tough, God knows what I need and He supplies. I never knew you could get so tired of speaking your own language, though.
Oh, and speaking of supplying what I need. Check out this little man who is basically making my summer right now. Ms. Linda, THIS is Cedric. I got to watch him on Wednesday night after 8 hours of working landscaping in the hot sun. It was pure therapy. We smiled a lot at each other and exchanged lots of slobbery kisses and he's a very good listener and I was teaching him how to give a high five. Oh, and Ingrid Michaelson was by far his favorite artist of all the different ones I tried on him, although he liked Best Years of our Lives by the BaHa Men (Shrek soundtrack). HeHe.
This weekend I'm headed home with my friend Leah from Emmaus (from Ft. Collins, north of here), for my cousin Chad's wedding! I'm exhausted through and through so I don't have a lot of energy to be excited, but I'm looking forward to it all. And praying that we'll be safe driving. God is so good to have provided a good friend to come down with me for the 17-hour round trip in one weekend. :) I love how He provides. He is good.
Oh, and PS, Why do I always have to be in the 3% of people who get the side effects in antibiotics? 3% seems like a nice, small, unlikely-that-you'll-get-it number...but it's not encouraging. :P
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead
Give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it's hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope
Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us faith, faith to be strong
- A. Peterson
It's been a long week...but God's grace has surrounded me at every turn. I am working 25 more hours now than I was before...15 landscaping and 10 tutoring someone from Saudi Arabia for pay. So my life has kind of drastically changed, schedule-wise. That's been pretty tough. It's what the Lord brought me here for, though, so I am trusting Him to get me through it and learning to let go of my personal goals for my time in the next six weeks.
Yesterday I taught ESL for 7 hours, off and on throughout the day. Then it took me hanging out with a group of young people from the church for an hour and talking to a good friend and eating a bowl of brownies with raspberry ice cream and whipped cream and reading half the book of Daniel to be quiet and rested enough to go to sleep. So, see, even though it's tiring and tough, God knows what I need and He supplies. I never knew you could get so tired of speaking your own language, though.
Oh, and speaking of supplying what I need. Check out this little man who is basically making my summer right now. Ms. Linda, THIS is Cedric. I got to watch him on Wednesday night after 8 hours of working landscaping in the hot sun. It was pure therapy. We smiled a lot at each other and exchanged lots of slobbery kisses and he's a very good listener and I was teaching him how to give a high five. Oh, and Ingrid Michaelson was by far his favorite artist of all the different ones I tried on him, although he liked Best Years of our Lives by the BaHa Men (Shrek soundtrack). HeHe.
This weekend I'm headed home with my friend Leah from Emmaus (from Ft. Collins, north of here), for my cousin Chad's wedding! I'm exhausted through and through so I don't have a lot of energy to be excited, but I'm looking forward to it all. And praying that we'll be safe driving. God is so good to have provided a good friend to come down with me for the 17-hour round trip in one weekend. :) I love how He provides. He is good.
Oh, and PS, Why do I always have to be in the 3% of people who get the side effects in antibiotics? 3% seems like a nice, small, unlikely-that-you'll-get-it number...but it's not encouraging. :P
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