Hidden Blessings

Life is so full of blessings,

You just have to choose to have the eyes to see them.

Living in a foreign country it is hard to see the blessings God brings. It is so easy to let my mind get filled with my woes of how I didn't get a hot shower, or how I just can't get away from that spitting noise that everyone makes here or how that guy who takes one look at me and then honks his horn just because I am a foreigner.

It is so easy to let myself have a pity party and think about how much I miss my family or how I just wish I could sit down and have a long talk with my boyfriend. But if I let myself get caught up in that I will miss what God has for me now. I will blind myself to the wonderful blessings God has for me today.

I must choose by God's grace to see the little pleasures God brings. And if I choose to look for them, I will be so much happier.

That has been my struggle lately during the midst of the Christmas season to not dwell on what I don't have but to dwell on what I do have.

I realized today that I can be happy about the little things. Even though I miss a lot from back home, I can be so thankful for the little gifts God brings here today.

So I decided as I wrapped my hands around my warm cup to accept the hot chocolate that I thought was gonna be a cold chocolate shake as a wonderful gift from Jesus.

And as I write this my host brought me some red licorice something that I haven't had since I left home.

"Yes" I thought, "I can smile and wonderfully bask in the little blessings God brings"

"I can be so thankful every time I see the sun, or get a glimpse of the moon or tast the wonderful dumplings they have here, or when I get a chance to laugh with friends. I can be thankful and accept it for what it is,

A Gift from God. :)

Unexpected Flowers

This summer I got kinda used to getting flowers.

Growing up I hadn't gotten many flowers. Before I started dating I remember only one time that I had recieved flowers. When I first started working, my boss got me and my fellow employee roses as a thank you. Other than that getting flowers wasn't something that usually happened to me except in my dreams.

When I started dating my boyfriend Kevin though this summer I fell in love with getting flowers. He had his sister secretly find out what my favorite flower was and after our first date he presented pink lilies to me. It was the first time I had ever gotten flowers from someone I liked and who mutually liked me as well. They were so wonderful. They filled my room and the entire basement with their fragrance. They cheered my heart whenever I saw them. They put a smile on my face and yellowed my nose when I got too close while smelling them.

He gave those same flowers to me several times throughout the summer, with the knowledge that while I was away in a foreign country he couldn't give them to me for nine months. So he found some earrings with the same lily painted on a heart with a white background to make up for all the times he couldn't get me flowers while I was away.

When I arrived in the country, I didn't miss the flowers all that much, but as the time got longer and longer they were something that I began to miss from home. But God always provides. There are flower shops everywhere and my favorite lily is in just about every shop. They would make me smile every time I saw them and now I use them for free smells and beauty for my eyes :) I am sure the natives think I am such a strange foreigner.

I told Kevin, that they had my flowers here and the sweet man that he is, told me to think every time that I saw them, "Don't worry". He was drawing from Matthew 6:28b-34

"Consider the lilies of the fields, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not clothe you,  O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kindom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble"

 

So I started doing that. Every time I would see my lilies on the street I would see that as a reminder from God, "Don't worry Jess, I have this under control". Amazingly he would send those flowers at just the right times.  Often it would be when I was getting off the bus, or having just a stressful time and he was so faithful to bring me those flowers. Even on my running route there is a flower shop so I get to see those quite frequently.  And when I saw them I would think to myself, "I would really like to have some...maybe I will ask for some for Christmas".

 

Then one day this week, my team mate brought me flowers. She came into my room with them and I broke into a huge smile, then I broke down in tears. I knew that it was God that gave me flowers. That he was saying during a hard time, "Don't worry Jess, just trust me."

 

I look at them now as I write, and I am just so thankful at God's goodness. God is able to bring flowers even when you are half a world away from home.

 

He is so good.

 



 

 



A Gift

I was feeling pretty down.

The realization that I was gonna be away from my family and boyfriend and friends for a long time was setting in.

I was with a family that I loved dearly but it wasn't my family. Not my family....and I was totally out of my element away from everything was familiar. I was tired.

As I read my sister's blog post about how she missed me, I broke down in tears.

"God I can't do this anymore."

"Why do you have me here?"

"Is what I am doing worth it?"

I laid my head on the kitchen table and let myself cry. I knew I needed to. I knew I needed to work through the pain of missing my home.

To help with the pain I started to sing,

"My child are you discouraged by the sorrows of the day?
Does it seem like life is crumbling? The skies have turned to grey.
Don't forget I gave you promises to guide you every hour.
In the moment of your heartbreak let me show you my great power.

And I will your shield when the battle rages on.
And I will be your light when the way ahead is dark.
I will be your strong tower, and guide you every hour.
Just place your life completely in my hands

I know it won't be easy I never said it would,
but my grace will always be there, my plans for you are good.
Remember that your weaknesses are perfect in my sight,
only when you yield them to me, can I turn them into might!"

And I will be your shield when the battle rage on,
And I will your light, when the way ahead is dark,
I will your strong tower and guide you every hour,
Just place your life completely in my hands.

And some day you will understand, why I sent this trial,
And someday you will see the end, and know its all worth while!"

As I sang this song and was reminded that God is always with me, He will never let me go, I went to go sit up on the window seat, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white BMW beetle. My boyfriend and I used to always play a game called "slug bug" and every time we saw one, we would tell each other "slug bug!". When we were driving together instead of slugging each other like most couples do, we instead would hit the ceiling. Needless to say it was a fun game that we played endlessly and we hoped to continue it while we were apart, but slug bugs are very very scarce in my area. I had thought I would have to resort to telling him everytime I saw a Ford...but that is no fun. Anyways enough with the back story. I think you get the point, slug bugs are a huge memory for me.

So I saw the slug bug and with it came surprise, joy and memories of last summer's slug bugging.

I realized that God had given me a gift. A gift saying "I love you" and "Its gonna be o.k."

Needless to say its amazing how one little white beetle can make my day :) :) :)

Love...

The only

place

outside

Heaven

where

you

can be

perfectly

safe

from all

the

dangers

and

perturbations

of love

is Hell.

~C.S. Lewis

The Gift of Family...

God has been more than good to me.

 I see that every day of my life when I look at the family He as given me. 

To explain why I love my family is rather hard because I don't know where to start. I am just reminded of it during the day by little things that happen. Whether it be Hannah my sister closest to me in age just coming into my room and sitting and talking with me, asking random questions and generally having a sister talk. :D

 Or being woken up by Allison, my youngest sister cause she needs my tape player, and which iron works again? 

Or its Sarah, who has the most hilarious sense of humor. She (and every one else cracks me up all the time). A quiet girl but always with something to say she is continuely making us laugh with her sarcasm. Whether its directed at me or anyone else its still funny. For example, Hannah rushing to take a shower cries out "Where's my cell phone?!........oh wait....I found it!!!" then at the perfect moment Sarah comments "What do you need your cell phone in the shower for?".

 Or it could be like last night as I heard shouts from the rain outside. Sarah, Allison and J.J. were playing in the rain. It had rained all day. The rain had created huge puddles around our little ten acre hobby farm. J.J. and I couldn't resist running and chasing each other through and around all those wonderfully splashy puddles. I can still see his face as his yellow "Minion" shirt from "Despicable Me" stood out in the semi darkness, giving me that grin of his with the triplets of dimples on either side of the corners of his mouth.

Or it could be Carson in all of his toddler cuteness. He is not afraid of telling me when he wants me to read a book. Grabbing his favorite (at the time) he will come right up to me and with his little but rapidly growing vocabulary demand that I read it to him. How can I resist that chubby face, with the blue eyes and curly hair? I can't miss those times where he willingly sits in my lap and listens to me read, exclaiming with every new turn of the page, trying to say things that he recognises on the pages.

Or it could be my Dad, teasing me at every opportunity but oh so willing to protect me, making sure that I get to where I am going, and looking out for my heart.

Or then again it could be my Mom, my wonderful, straight forward, down to earth mom, who loves the Lord with all her heart,  as she makes sure that I am heading in the right direction, or just watches me with that mommy vision over hers, always praying for me, looking out for me and loving me to the utmost.

Either way, every day I have reason to say, "Thank you God for giving me my precious, goofy, and loud family." :D

From My Bookshelf or The Library's

I love missionary stories and lately I just can't seem to stop pulling them off the library shelves and bringing them home with me. I miss the old days when I could read a book in an afternoon. So I have to limit my choices at the Library. Sad huh? It's not like I have to have a budget to stick to at the library. Its free for goodness sakes! (well unless you have late fees....somehow I always get those :/) but I guess I am just budgeting my reading time...ugh..I shouldn't have to do that.

So I was really excited that I actually finished a book last night!!!

I read "We Signed Away Our Lives: How One Family Gave Everything for the Gospel" by Kari Torjesen Malcolm.

When I pulled it off the shelf at the church library the title intrigued me. How did this family give everything? How did God draw them to himself? What can I learn from this?

My expectations were met. As soon as I opened it I was pleasantly surprised that it was set in China. I don't know how I didn't see that little detail on the back cover but I apparently didn't!

The book followed the journey of the Torjesen family on their commitment to follow Christ no matter what the cost. It all started when Peter Torjesen the future father of three boys and a girl heard a mission sermon at his church and when the offering plate went around he not only put what money he had, he also put a piece of paper in the plate which read "And my life". It was the pivotal moment in his life. He never looked back. This commitment to took him and his wife Valborg to China where they served the people of China sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were commited even through war, and harships. This commitment ultimately cost Peter his life, but was that really so much to lose?

"Afraid? Of what?
Afraid to see the Savior's face,
To hear His welcome, and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid---of that?

Afraid? Of what?
A flash, a crash, a pierced heart;
Darkness light, O Heaven's art!
A wound of his counterpart!
Afraid---of that?

Afraid? Of what?
To do by death what life could not--
Baptize with blood a stony plot,
Till souls shall blossom from the spot?
Afraid--of that?"
~E.H. Hamilton

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life in this world will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12: 24-25

"These all died in faith, not having recieved the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Hebrews 11: 13-16

The Opal

Do you know that lovely fact about the opal? That, in the first place, it is made only of desert dust, sand, silica, and owes its beauty and preciousness to a defect. It is a stone with a broken heart. It is full of minute fissures which admit air, and the air refracts the light. Hence its lovely hues, and that sweet lamp of fire that ever burns at its heart, for the breath of the Lord God is in it.

   You are only conscious of the cracks and desert dust, but so He makes His precious opal. We must be broken in ourselves before we can give back the lovely hues of His light, and the lamp in the temple can burn in us and never go out. ~Ellice Hopkins

 

Source: mineralsciences.si.edu via Jess on Pinterest