2-24-08
It’s been a couple days since I’ve had time to actually sit down and collect my thoughts in regards to all that God has been doing. It is hard to believe that I have only been here two weeks, and yet for all that God has done in my life, it might as well have been years! It’s been a week of struggle…struggle to deal with all that God is revealing to me and refining in my life. I have complained a lot to Him about it, told Him I wasn’t ready to deal with it….He told me I was and so we walked. He is teaching me what it means to be still and that my relationship with Him is of the utmost importance. To pray that He would be my everything means getting ready for Him to strip away the things that prohibit that. I’m learning to anticipate Him answering my prayers and to be careful what I pray for!
And through it all, through the tears and the heart ache, through the struggle to understand His plan, through the hours spent on my knees and in the word, I have seen His goodness and His faithfulness! “My only hope is in your unfailing love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 40:11. I am so thankful that He is so concerned with my relationship with Him that He deals with the hard stuff and jealously seeks after my time and affections.
During one of my low moments this week I called my sister who was in Tenn. helping with the disaster relief. As I was sharing the depth of emotion I had been dealing with, she mentioned an interesting thing that they had noticed while they were there cleaning up after the tornado. On the ground were all these round balls that looked like petrified peaches. As they examined them more, they realized that they were a type of cancer that had been growing on the trees and sucking the life out of them. It wasn’t until the tornado came through that the trees were able to experience relief from the disease that had been embedded into their trunk. “Don’t you see Patricia? God is getting rid of the cancer in your heart and sometimes he has to use a tornado to do it.” How true that is. And while Satan loves to use the anesthesia to numb us up to the disease of sin, when God does heart surgery, He always lets us feel it!
Other than that, it’s been a good week :o) We celebrated my roommate Whitney’s birthday on Wednesday (with Pizza and homemade cherry cobbler!). I put in a full week of hours at the coffee shop, helped my friend Natasha (from the Ukraine) write out her testimony (which was a challenge since she speaks very little English…way to learn my Russian!), had Jr. High dance night at dinner Saturday night, an awesome night of girl bonding while playing games and listening to the amazing travels of Jenna ;o) Friday night, and a beautifully sweet time of worship tonight for chapel. Oh, and did I mention that is has been in the high 60s and sunny for the past week….love being outside!
Things to pray for:
Time to get all my studying done, especially my 6 hours of language that I need to get in for the week. I am so thankful for the two years of Russian with Susie…now I just wish I had kept it up! Pray that it comes back to me quickly and the God grants me grace in retaining it.
Pray also as I make connections in Israel for my month outreach. A women here, who has lived in Israel for several years, has been talking to me about the different opportunities there and just today mentioned that she is praying about going with me. Such a blessing!
Also, pray that God would give me peace about where I should go over Easter. I have the opportunity to travel into Turkey to visit a friend of mine who is serving there now. Pray that if it His will that He would make that clear and evident.
Again, I am so thankful for all of you…for your faithful prayers and support! You have no idea how precious you are to me! I love you all!
In His sweet arms of love ><>
Patricia
It’s been a couple days since I’ve had time to actually sit down and collect my thoughts in regards to all that God has been doing. It is hard to believe that I have only been here two weeks, and yet for all that God has done in my life, it might as well have been years! It’s been a week of struggle…struggle to deal with all that God is revealing to me and refining in my life. I have complained a lot to Him about it, told Him I wasn’t ready to deal with it….He told me I was and so we walked. He is teaching me what it means to be still and that my relationship with Him is of the utmost importance. To pray that He would be my everything means getting ready for Him to strip away the things that prohibit that. I’m learning to anticipate Him answering my prayers and to be careful what I pray for!
And through it all, through the tears and the heart ache, through the struggle to understand His plan, through the hours spent on my knees and in the word, I have seen His goodness and His faithfulness! “My only hope is in your unfailing love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 40:11. I am so thankful that He is so concerned with my relationship with Him that He deals with the hard stuff and jealously seeks after my time and affections.
During one of my low moments this week I called my sister who was in Tenn. helping with the disaster relief. As I was sharing the depth of emotion I had been dealing with, she mentioned an interesting thing that they had noticed while they were there cleaning up after the tornado. On the ground were all these round balls that looked like petrified peaches. As they examined them more, they realized that they were a type of cancer that had been growing on the trees and sucking the life out of them. It wasn’t until the tornado came through that the trees were able to experience relief from the disease that had been embedded into their trunk. “Don’t you see Patricia? God is getting rid of the cancer in your heart and sometimes he has to use a tornado to do it.” How true that is. And while Satan loves to use the anesthesia to numb us up to the disease of sin, when God does heart surgery, He always lets us feel it!
Other than that, it’s been a good week :o) We celebrated my roommate Whitney’s birthday on Wednesday (with Pizza and homemade cherry cobbler!). I put in a full week of hours at the coffee shop, helped my friend Natasha (from the Ukraine) write out her testimony (which was a challenge since she speaks very little English…way to learn my Russian!), had Jr. High dance night at dinner Saturday night, an awesome night of girl bonding while playing games and listening to the amazing travels of Jenna ;o) Friday night, and a beautifully sweet time of worship tonight for chapel. Oh, and did I mention that is has been in the high 60s and sunny for the past week….love being outside!
Things to pray for:
Time to get all my studying done, especially my 6 hours of language that I need to get in for the week. I am so thankful for the two years of Russian with Susie…now I just wish I had kept it up! Pray that it comes back to me quickly and the God grants me grace in retaining it.
Pray also as I make connections in Israel for my month outreach. A women here, who has lived in Israel for several years, has been talking to me about the different opportunities there and just today mentioned that she is praying about going with me. Such a blessing!
Also, pray that God would give me peace about where I should go over Easter. I have the opportunity to travel into Turkey to visit a friend of mine who is serving there now. Pray that if it His will that He would make that clear and evident.
Again, I am so thankful for all of you…for your faithful prayers and support! You have no idea how precious you are to me! I love you all!
In His sweet arms of love ><>
Patricia
2 comments:
You are amazing! And God in you is what is truly incredible! I am so glad for you and this time you have. Miss you bunches, but I feel like we are both in our own Bible College right now.
I am so thankful to see God working in your life! I love you!
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