take two

Because the DC area has been hit with the great blizzard of 2010,  I’m taking a snow weekend from life.  After a day of cleaning, baking and watching movies. So here I sit listening to Hope is on the Way, by Stephanie Cuomo trying to figure out where to start. (consider this the music sharing for this week)

My small group just started Kelly Minter’s study on Ruth, which has so far been really great for each member in the group. I’ll admit though part of me wondered, Ruth again really. Just before Thanksgiving, our precepts class finished its study on Ruth. I felt like I learned a lot through the study, but as my friends Christina and Katherine said clearly He’s not done yet.

This week we covered about humility, Ruth was a humble woman, in 2:13 she pointed out that she was lower than the servant girls. A quote from the this past week’s reading stuck with me, ” Be encouraged that humbling seasons are for our ultimate benefit, though they are painful and, well humbling.”  I can honestly say that I never looked at humility like that before. It was a well-timed lesson for me, some things have happened pretty recently that have required me to approach life more humbly.  I am also learning that there is a huge difference in living life humbly and living a self-deprecating life. It turns out I am much better at the second option. So while it’s not my favorite part of this season of life, I know that God is using it.

Expect more lessons learned from this latest round in Ruth…I think my small group ladies are right, God still has more to teach..

writer’s block..

Right now there are three uncompleted drafts  just sitting there staring at me. Ok they are not actually staring at me, but their incompleteness makes me a little batty. It wasn’t until I read this in one of Holley’s recent posts, “I’ve learned the trick is not giving in to that moment when the journey, the story, seems like too much. Just start with one step. ”  Then it hit me, I’m a little overwhelmed. And for the first time in a long time, it’s not  the “dark and twisty” that overwhelms me but the way God has put certain things into motion recently. You see it was the way it all happened, small steps in obedience, trying not to get wrapped up into my timing and praying that my heart would hope in the desires that God has for my life, and that those desires would become my own.

There are two examples in my life that currently explain my point. I’ll share one now, the other is for another day.

For as long as I can remember I’ve prayed that God would send me on a short-term mission trip to Africa. Instead, He sent me to SE Asia and Brazil, both trips taught me so much and were experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything.  But I definitely felt like the little kid in the car asking if we are there yet, and God looking at me from the front seat saying ” No not yet”. 

 Holley was right when she said that sometimes we expect God to be in the big grand parts of our story, and forget that He is even in the smallest of details. Which is why looking back, the dots are easier to connect. It all started because of music, Nashville based artists Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz, to be exact. Gwen,  sent me a link to an organization that both artists support called Mocha Club. After looking at the work they do in Africa, I decided to become a monthly donor. Then months later Gwen had asked if I would ever consider going on a Mocha Club trip because she was also considering it. I said of course I would consider it, and then we waited for the Mocha Club to put together their 2010 trip schedule.

All that was left to do was pray, so I prayed for discernment on whether to go or not and laid my wish to serve in Africa at God’s feet. Which is why I had to smile a little when the trip list came out with Ethiopia on it, because it was like hearing God say ”yes we are here”. So its official I’m a member of Mocha Club trip to Ethiopia, excited does not even begin to explain it. Most of all I’m humbled by the reminder that God is in the little things in this story of mine.

Wow, ok I wrote more than expected guess the writer’s block is on its way out.

 ”He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecc 3:11

song to encourage

I wanted to share this song, the band sang it last week at Frontline.

breathe

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day, Ps 46:5. 

Fittingly, that was the last logical thought that went through my head before I fell asleep Friday night after what had been a very long couple of weeks. Funny thing about the start of a new year, it is a fresh start to hope in what is yet to come but it also often moves at such a rapid pace, that sometimes we forget to breathe, let alone pray.

It is why I love that verse so much, it’s a constant reminder that no matter how crazy the crazy is, God is right there keeping me upright, and there to listen to whats going on my heart even when I don’t have the words.

ok, that’s all for now..wanted to share the verse I hope you find it encouraging too.