Dorothy's Dated Dictums - In His care...

We are spending part of the day at the SIM Southern Africa Mission House. This is where we stayed for three weeks when we arrived in Cape Town. It was home base while we looked for a home, a car, furnishings, etc. As you can see by the photo, it has a beautiful pool.

When we arrived in September, it was towards the end of winter. Believe me, we weren’t even tempted by the pool. Instead we had layers of clothing on and huddled near heaters trying to warm up.

A lot has happened since then. We are fully settled into an apartment that suits us. We are finding our feet and our niche at the SIM office. We have found people to spend time with outside the office, a church to regularly attend and we can pretty easily get around Cape Town now. Well, Dwight better than me!

As I started 2015, I had no idea that we would be moving to South Africa. I wonder what 2016 hold. Will there be major changes? Will I make a difference at SIM? Will I find an outlet for ministry that is outside of SIM? Will I make friends that live in our apartment complex? Will my feet totally heal, making it possible to walk along the gorgeous beaches?

While all of these questions are ones that I ask myself, the biggest question already has an answer. Will I grow closer to the Lord than I am right now? The answer is “YES!” Not because of me, but because of His faithfulness.

My theme verse this coming year is taken from Luke 11.1. “Lord, teach me to pray!” I know the basics. I know various formulae like ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. But, I am longing for something deeper and more intimate. I want my prayer life to be alive, life changing, relational, building. I want it to move towards the very prayer life that Jesus had with His Father.

This is certainly the most important change that I want to see in the new year. But, it is not the only one. It seems that all my, do I even want to call them what I am going to? resolutions – there, I said it – are ones that I have made before with minimal or short term results. This realization could easily lead me to a “why even try” attitude.”

My daughter and I have been doing a Bible study on the “Do not be afraid” verses. We have both learned so much about God and His desire to help us; about ourselves and fleshing out what fear means to us; and about each other. A couple of days ago, I read this verse: Isaiah 41.14 “Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I Myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

It was exactly the verse I needed to read. God doesn’t pull any punches. I am a worm, little and with no power. In fact, I have often said that I don’t have the willpower of a slug! But, God is telling me that yes, while that is what I am, He Himself will help me. And who is He? He is my Lord, my Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And how do I access this help. Through prayer!!

In the words of one of the characters of the ancient TV show, A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!”

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

I have always loved the imagery in John 15 of the vine and the branches. But, I have also always known that I couldn’t fully appreciate it because, to tell you the truth, I don’t like gardening. Now, don’t confuse that with thinking that I don’t like gardens. I do. I love an array of a bright and varied colored flowers!! But I like someone else to do the work! In Nigeria, we had, not a roundabout, but an Africa-about in front of our house; a patch of raised earth that was in the shape of Africa. And it was planted with a huge variety of flowers that represented all the colors of the rainbow. It was beautiful. And yes, we had someone else who took care of it.

Well, here in Cape Town, I have a garden of sorts. And I love it, because I really can handle it. I have a large pot with different colored pansies and a smaller hanging flowering plant. I was told by a good friend that I had to pluck out all the dead blossoms if I wanted to keep the flowers blooming. And that I had to water them every day. And so I do. Every day I water and pluck. . . and pluck. . . and pluck. The hanging basket has 10 or more dead or dying blossoms every day!!

And I have gained some insight that I don’t think I would have had if I hadn’t been gardening. (Now, don’t laugh – this is as close to gardening as I am likely to ever get!) The plucking of the dead or dying blossoms really does work. These plants are healthy and full and luscious with bright color.

What has come to my mind are the many ways that I can equate the dead blossoms with sin in my life.  First, like the dead blossoms, sin is going to crop up. It is going to appear and in order for my life to be healthy and full and bright with His glory, it needs to be plucked!

Second, I am amazed at how I can think that I have them all plucked and then I look at it from a different angle and find more! This parallels when I examine one area of my life and pluck the sin out, but don’t examine my life from every angle, thereby missing areas that need pruning.

But, while all the parallels with the ugliness of sin are apparent, so are the beautiful parts – the glorious blossoms visible to all who take time to look; the vibrant colors and how, while each is unique, they complement each other; the smile that their simple beauty brings to me; and the visible growth seen over the weeks and months.

As I come to Christmas, I am so thankful for the birth of Jesus, “come to set His people free.” Born in a very simple stable, His incomparable glory is visible for all who take time to look.

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2.10-11

And because it is impossible to pick just one verse for Christmas, here is another of my favorites. I cut 8” letters out of red construction paper, mounted them on green construction paper, covered them in clear plastic and they were part of our Christmas decorations for the last 11 years. . .

“Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” Isaiah 60.1

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

Last night was a very difficult night. Dwight shared the news that one of our fellow missionaries had died the day before. Stuart had been battling cancer and I guess one could say he won! Just minutes after sharing that, Dwight received an email from his brother saying that their mom has declined to the point of not eating or drinking and in and out of consciousness. It seems like the end of her life on this earth is coming soon. And less than an hour later I read an email from my very good friend, Lynn, that her mom had just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the colon and that it had spread everywhere.

I went to bed early crying and trying to pray. Praying and then crying some more. God gave me a beautiful picture. He reminded me that if I hold up even a small object right before my eyes, everything else is blocked out, even the sun, which is huge. But, all I have to do is pull it away a little bit and the sun’s radiance will be seen. So, all I have to do is pull my grief just a little bit away and the radiance of the Son’s glory is visible.

Each one of these people have impacted my life in a different way. Stuart and Donna ran the SIM residence in Charlotte, NC for many years. During our years of being home based in the Carolinas and traveling back and forth to Africa with our kids, it was Stuart who took us to the airport with all of our boxes. He had developed a relationship with one of the skycaps. He would call this skycap when he was at a certain point in the journey to the airport and the skycap would be there to handle all our boxes and get us through the check-in line expediently. And Stuart was the one who would pick us up from the airport with all our boxes and our tiredness and drop us at the residence where clean beds, food in the fridge and a welcoming presence met us.

In the summer of 2002, I had to go to the U.S. to try to find a resolution to horrible headaches I was having. In spite of loads of different medications, about every 4 or 5 days I would have to get a shot for pain and the nausea caused by the extreme pain. It was discovered that I had cysts in my sphenoid sinus cavity and needed surgery. I stayed at the SIM residence for a while before the surgery, and then with friends. And then my dad and I stayed at the residence after the surgery. Stuart was amazing and would buy mangoes for me even though they were so expensive, knowing I was missing Africa.

Stuart always had a joke to tell. If you could tell him one that he had not heard before, you scored big time!! I only was able to do that once. Stuart served out of humility, humor and grace. In talking with him, even though he was incredibly busy, I always felt like I was the most important person to him. I never felt rushed or like he needed to get going, which I am sure he did. I will miss him greatly. But, I can certainly see him in heaven and, I am guessing, our Lord has a few jokes for him that he has not heard!!

My mother-in-law, Evelyn, is an amazing woman who has passed on a rich inheritance to her children. Not of money, but gifts far more precious!! First, the gift of knowing that one’s best is good enough. Dwight tells a story of bringing home a report card that had a low grade on it. His younger brother always brought home straight A’s. As he showed his report card to his mom, she asked him, “Did you do your best?” When he answered that he had, she told him, “That is good enough.”

The second gift was in how to enjoy one another. As farmers, they worked hard. Really hard. But they had fun as they worked. And they played. I loved times on the farm!! Dwight’s parents did things together. They loved fishing together, and believe me, she could outlast me in sitting waiting for fish to bite!! I was ready to go in after sitting in the boat for an hour or so, but they would stay out all day!!! Later they picked up doing stained glass together. They would pick out patterns together and buy glass together. They would cut the glass and Edwin would do the soldering. We have a gorgeous BIG lion that just has to be Aslan, as well as several other pieces.

The third gift was to not just settle with your situation in life, but to embrace it and find contentment in it. When the farm where Edwin was foreman sold, they moved into an RV. Our four year old son observed, “This is either a really big camper or a really little house!” I know people asked them how they could stand to give up all the beautiful antique furniture that had come from family and move into such a small space. Evelyn’s response: “Think how little time it will take to clean this, which means I will have more time for all the things I love doing.”

For many, many years they spent the warmer months in Minnesota and the colder months in Texas. They continued with their stained glass work in both places. When Edwin was no longer able to drive the camper to Texas, they moved into a house on Dwight’s brother’s property. Doing stained glass soldering became more difficult, so together they made paving stones with stained glass set in concrete.

Then came the time they no longer could negotiate the stairs to get into the house and they moved to town into a small one room apartment on the 3rd floor. I think that this was the hardest move. Looking out the window, all they saw was sky. But, I never heard either of them complain. Edwin died three years ago after spending some time in a nursing home that was connected by a covered walkway to the apartment building. Evelyn visited every day for hours at a time.

Throughout our entire married life, going to Evelyn and Edwin’s wherever they were, was such a joy. I didn’t think of Evelyn so much of a mother-in-law as an older women whom I wanted to learn things from that I could pass on to my children. I wanted to learn to know when my best was enough. I wanted to learn to enjoy being with Dwight, whether working or playing. And I wanted to learn the sweet contentment that says this is not just enough, it is the absolute best for right now.

So, Evelyn has moved from home to home and it looks like her final move is coming close. Talk about saving the best for last! We have had many discussions with her and know she knows she is going to heaven. Years and years ago, after she told me that she just didn’t get things out of reading the Bible like I did, I gave her a Life Application Study Bible. I learned rather recently that she read it every single day.

And my friend Lynn’s mom, Helen. Lynn and I became very close friends in Liberia. I have been to Medicine Hat, Alberta in Canada many times to visit Lynn, and to visit Lynn is to visit her mom. I felt the same affinity for Helen as I did for Lynn. I had told Lynn this, but I regret that I didn’t tell her mom. I was more the person I wanted to be when I was with them. Helen’s strong faith was passed down to Lynn and to each of her siblings; to their children and their children’s children. I know that as difficult as getting this news is, Helen is going to be continually surrounded by family who love her until the very moment that she is in the arms of the One who loves her even more! A testimony of Helen’s belief in the love of her Father is in this statement that Lynn wrote in her email to me. “She values you and wants you to know how good God is being to her.”

And so, while my heart is sad to the point of breaking, and my eyes are sore from crying, I am pulling the grief away a bit so that I can still say, “God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.”

“Then Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’” John 11.40

Each year, God gives me a theme, if you will, for the next year. In 2015, the above became my core verse. But, I did something different this year. I really wanted to focus on the verse throughout the year and the only way for me to remember to do that and not get distracted from what God wanted to teach me was to actually include daily in my journal what God was asking me to believe that day.

The Lord gave me this theme in November of 2014. Little did I know how much our lives would change in 2015! Over the last week, I went through all my “believe” statements and tried to categorize them! I am so glad that I am an organized person, making this huge task less daunting than it could have been. And actually, I was very excited to summarize the year.

When, I first started to categorize them, I had too few categories. Then, I had about 30 categories. And then I narrowed those down to 17 listed below. I know that some categories could probably still be merged with others, but this is what I came up with. They are listed in order of most frequent.

As I head into 2016 (which seems a bit funny to write today since it is only the 4th of December), if I remember nothing else, I want to remember that God is for me. He is in my corner. He has my back. He is fighting for me. He not only loves me, but He even likes me. Since 1994, I have signed my e-mails, “In His care” and this year, He continually showed me that He truly does care for me.

I kept track of my “believe” statements in One Note (a program I use extensively and would be happy to sell you on!) by month. It was so interesting to review these statements in light of what was going on in our lives. The believe statements that had to do with trusting in God’s plan and timing is further down on my list than I would have thought, but these statements were certainly the most prevalent ones in March- September.

I am so filled with joy to be able to tell you that focusing on believing God really did change my walk with Him this past year. I am not sure that I would have dealt as well with the various long waiting periods – first in getting the official invitation from SIM South Africa to come to Cape Town and second for our visas – if I had not been focusing on the fact that if I only believed God, I would see His glory.

The last point I want to make (well, second to last) is that this verse is asking me to believe God. It isn’t asking me to believe in God, for as the Bible tells us, even the demons do that (James 2.19). This difference has changed my thinking, my relationship with God. I can honestly say that I now trust Him more for who He is than for what He does.

Now for my last point. I believe that my theme for last year was a preparation for this year. I know that my focus needs to be on prayer. I am quick to pray with someone right then and there. But, in my quiet times and throughout the day, my prayers tend to be more like I think – in bulleted lists that are in outline form!! I want to change this! I want my prayers to be conversing with God on an even more intimate level than I talk with Dwight or my kids or my good friends. I haven’t found THE VERSE yet, but hey, it is only the 4th of December.

Please, will you pray for me, not only for the focus verse, but also for how to go about this journey? I have a few ideas, but I need to get out of a formula or list mode and into conversation. I know for sure that I want to use prayers in the Bible as a starting point. I value your input!!

So, here is my categorized list of “believe” statements. May you be blessed.

I believe that . . .

1. You are for me.
2. You are all powerful and that power is working in me.
3. You are sovereign.
4. You are growing me into the image of Your Son.
5. Your death on the cross bought me the freedom to choose between life or death, peace or doubt, love or hate, truth or lies. . .
6. You desire a relationship with me, to communicate with me.
7. You are sufficient for me, my family, my friends, providing all we need to carry out Your plan for our lives.
8. You have a plan for my life and it will come to be in Your perfect timing.
9. You are always with me.
10. Your Word is truth.
11. You love me.
12. You are faithful, always keeping Your promises in Your perfect timing, making You worthy to trust.
13. You place a high value on reconciliation by first forgiving me and then by asking me to forgive others.
14. You are good. All the time. All the time. You are good.
15. You calm my fears, my doubts, my uncertainties, giving me peace at all times.
16. You are just and ask me to be the same.
17. You are eternal and I will spend eternity with You.

As I read through this list. . . again, I am struck by the fact that not once did I mention “grace” and yet that was a huge part of my understanding of God this last year. I guess that all the “believe” statements could be summed up by this: God’s love for me is so great that His grace is sufficient for growing me in my relationship with Him, into the image of His Son and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

During the long wait for our South Africa visas, I was determined to praise God for the circumstances even though I didn’t understand the why. I didn’t want to be in Cape Town and see God’s hand in the wait, wishing I had trusted Him throughout. And I am so glad that I did.

I am seeing God’s perfect plan coming to fruition. God was putting foundations in place that Dwight and I would build on! The biggest foundational section was SIM International’s restating their purpose, mission and vision to better reflect their response to the fact that people are living and dying without a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. These statements in their entirety, along with SIM’s core values and other information are found at www.sim.org. 

The second foundational block was the team building seminar that had already been planned for the SIM Southern Africa office heads of departments. The fact that this was scheduled long before we arrived, and yet we arrived in time for Dwight to take part has been integral to being able to institute some much needed focus within the office.

Over the last couple of months, Dwight has spent a lot of time listening, mainly to God, but also to the various members of the office staff. The Director has turned all of the office responsibilities over to him and he has already made some changes. We have been awed at God’s gracious granting of our prayer request for office staff to be willing and cooperative with changes. All of this built up to a training that I did this past week.

I am passionate about the governance process – the stating of purpose, core values, mission and vision, which then leads to strategy. The cooperation and interaction with the admin team only fueled that passion. I wish you could have all been there to hear this team get excited about being able to define not only where they were going, but why and how they would get there.

These are the statements that were developed by this incredible team and has already been approved by the Director. I am including them here so that you can use these as a base for prayer for us! And over the next few weeks, each of the department heads, in consultation with me, will be working on their own specific strategy.

PURPOSE
We glorify God by facilitating the work of our missionaries and serving our mission community.

CORE VALUES

• Committed to biblical truth
• Dependent on God
• A people of prayer
• Focused on facilitating Christ’s great commission
• Concerned about missionary needs, enabling missionaries to thrive
• Reflecting Christ in our office and our community
• Learning and developing within our office community, being responsive to our times without compromising biblical truth
• Intentionally building a diverse cross-cultural team
• With integrity, practicing good stewardship, effective utilization and sharing of all God’s resources
• Committed to excellence
• Upholding unity in purpose and vision

MISSION
Seeking to extend God’s kingdom through effective service to our missionaries, we minister to them and motivate the Church to pray, give and go.

VISION

• By faith we see a unified team effectively serving together in trust, reflecting Christ’s love in word and deed in a way that is honoring God and one another.
• By faith we see well-supported, equipped and motivated missionaries sharing and demonstrating the Gospel effectively, making disciples that make disciples.
• By faith we see the Church enthusiastically sending, supporting and praying for cross-cultural missionaries in partnership with SIM and other like-minded mission bodies.

A week or so ago, I was sitting in a borrowed office in SIM and within my vision two staff were sharing a story and laughing together. I had a huge wave of homesickness. For Kenya, for the U.S., for being an integral part of a group of people. Before coming to South Africa, my biggest concern (yes, another word for fear or anxiety) was how to develop community. Or how to join community that had already been developed. And with the “on the outside looking in” experience, that was just amplified.

But God. God spoke to the heart of one of the staff and she came to the office I was in and shared what she had shared with her colleague. All of a sudden, I felt part of the group. All of a sudden, God reminded me that He was able. All of a sudden, it was OK again. I was OK again.

And so the last couple of weeks went by. And the feeling of being on the outside started to build again.

But God. Bev, our good friend and colleague from Kenya had a conference in Cape Town. She arranged to come to us on Friday and just left Tuesday night. I was in a meeting the previous Friday morning and saw her through the window. It was all I could do to stay in the meeting! When I came out, I hugged her neck. Stopped. Hugged her neck. Stopped. Hugged her neck. I hadn’t realized just how much I was missing talking with someone that had a history with me. Someone who knew me through trials and victories. Someone who had prayed with and for me.

Our 5 days together were wonderful! Bev was pretty tired from the conference and so we were able to just give her a day of rest on Saturday. She slept as late as she wanted. She drank tea and coffee whenever she wanted. She sat out on our patio in the sun reading and relaxing. And we had our first braai – South African barbecue. What a privilege to be able to offer her the time and place to restore.

After a great church service on Sunday we went to Muizenberg beach, enjoyed the ocean and ate at Tiger Milk, home of the best ribs I had ever eaten. With a great view of the ocean, we were able to relax and enjoy one another in very pleasant surroundings.

We went on a city tour on Monday, did some shopping and then we were at Kirstenbosch Gardens on Tuesday. You can see some pictures of the Garden on my Facebook page. And then, at the end of our time, we prayed for one another.

I am an incredibly blessed person. I am married to my best friend. We love doing things together and we greatly enjoy being with one another. On top of that, God has always given us good friends wherever we have lived. Already, we are making friends here and with time we will have a history with them that our friends from previous chapters of our life will only be able to read about. But, I think the best times of all are those when a friend from one chapter intersects with another chapter! I love that within the SIM world, those intersections happen!

I am reading in Acts right now, intermixed with Paul’s letter to various churches. So often in his writings, he is staying connected to those friends he has made through his journeys. And that is what I am doing in writing this. Staying connected to you!  Thank you so much for how you have blessed me. My life is better because you are in it.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

We are still looking for a church home. This will be an important part of our life in South Africa. Since there are no SIM compounds for people to live and experience community, church family is a huge part of the relationships that are built and nurtured. I am definitely feeling a sense of loss at not having the close relationships that are easy to build on a compound and within a church body.

We have visited a number of churches here and liked different things about each one. Church #1 is quite large and has excellent preaching. There is a wide age range. I especially liked how happy the children and youth seemed to be coming to church. However, it was fairly mono-culture and we were’t really greeted by anybody but the official greeters for the day.

Church #2 was right around the corner, very vibrant and friendly. Wide age range. Many different cultures. But we discovered it was aligned with a denomination whose doctrine we can’t agree with.

Church #3 was very, very small. Only about 30 people and currently they do not have a pastor. With only 30 people, even though there was a wide age range, there were only a few children. But, even though the numbers were small, it was multi-cultural.

Church #4 is a good size. It is part of a denomination that we have been with for many years, so we agree with their doctrine. It is very friendly. The overwhelming majority of the members are our age and older. The preaching is relevant, challenging and encouraging.

I was looking back at blogs I had written to find out how long ago I had used the lesson I learned in a movie called “The Encounter.” It was Aug 28 this year, entitled “God in My Media” and the paragraph was still highlighted!

It is a great movie in which Jesus is a diner owner, cook and server. He has come to make Himself known to a married couple and 3 singles. One of my favorite parts is when He tells the people that they can order off the menu if they like, but if they special order, allowing Him to tell them what they would really like, then their meal is free. Jesus then proceeds to tell each person what would most satisfy them. The wife demands to order from the menu.  I wonder how many times I do just that. I want to pick and choose from a list of options when in fact Jesus is saying, “Let Me give you what will most satisfy you.”

So, where will we end up? We kind of have checked the “menu” items that we want, but mostly we are trusting the Lord to lead us to what will most satisfy us.

This led me to think about how God blessed me through various churches throughout my life. I liked the interactive dialogue that took place after the sermon in the church I grew up in. (OK, I didn’t like it when I was little and had to sit still as it made for a longer service!) Our family was so blessed by the church that saw us through the death of our daughter. The churches in Liberia and Nigeria gave us our first look at cross-cultural worship and me an opportunity to teach Sunday School. Being involved from the beginning in a mission church plant in the Carolinas forged life-long relationships. They didn’t just let us go back overseas, but they launched us with the power of the Holy Spirit! I loved the circle that formed for communion in our church in Kenya, thinking that is what it was going to be like in heaven. People from palest white to brown to blackest black and everything in between, all worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord.

And the church we have attended for the last two weeks? At the end of the service, the pastor prays for individuals, the city, the country, the world. And as he prays for individuals, if they are present, he goes over to where they are sitting and lays his hand on them.

I know that the name of the church, or to some extent, even the denomination isn’t going to be what draws us. It is seeing people worshiping the living God in song, in word and in deed. And may God grant that we will soon become part of such a body.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Many of you may have taken the vocabulary test in Readers’ Digest. Well, following their format, I am going to introduce you to some “South African-eze!” for visitors. See how you score!!

1. Shot bru
1. Going out for a beer
2. Hybrid between “thank you” and “it’s all good”
3. Catching a wave on a surfboard
2. Shame!
1. I am so sorry!
2. How cute is that!
3. All of the above!
3. Robot
1. Traffic lights
2. Computerized washing machine
3. Remote controls for media equipment
4. Ag
1. That tastes awful!!
2. A filler-word much like the word “like” among the younger generation
3. A farm
5. Tjaila
1. It’s time to go home
2. A South African dish
3. A mountain pass
6. Ja, nee
1. Look, see what I see!?
2. Are you coming?
3. Yes, no
7. Just now
1. I am turning onto your street.
2. I will come sometime today.
3. I will plan to plan to come.
8. Lekker
1. Great, fun, exciting, delicious, pleasant, enjoyable
2. Any form of liquor
3. Better than anything else
9. Plaster
1. A compound used on walls
2. A rugby game where one team has 0 for a score
3. A bandage
10. Tekkis
1. Sports shoe
2. Computer nerd
3. Mine worker
11. Bakki
1. Truck
2. Return of item
3. Sausage
12. Braai
1. A type of cheese
2. A barbecue
3. A picnic
13. Bobuti
1. A South African delicacy
2. Saying goodbye to someone you won’t see for a long time
3. A sale
14. Tsotsi
1. A preschooler
2. An alcoholic beverage
3. A thug
15. Cozzie
1. Sweater
2. Swimsuit
3. Blanket
16. Checkers
1. Plastic bag
2. Any board game
3. Taxi
17. Slops
1. Flip flops
2. Baggy jeans
3. Leftovers
18. Tune
1. Song
2. Sassing
3. Bring in line
19. Tom
1. Drum
2. Drink
3. Money
20. Chips
1. French fries
2. Potato crisps (i.e. Lays)
3. Watch out!

 

Answers: 1-2; 2-3; 3-1; 4-2; 5-1; 6-3; 7-2; 8-1; 9-3; 10-1; 11-1; 12-2; 13-1; 14-3; 15-2; 16-1; 17-1; 18-2; 19-3; 20-3

Your score (# correct):
18 – 20 – You’ve been so South Africa before!
15-17 – You have read books about South Africa!
12-14 – Good job!
11-13 – Great guessing.
0-10 – No problem. You’ll hear them when you visit South Africa!

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I needed my first pair of glasses when I was 8 years old. And as the years progressed, the lenses became thicker and thicker and thicker. By the time I was in my 40s, I immediately needed my glasses just to get out of bed! 

And then everything changed in 1998. My Dad graciously and generously paid for me to have Lasik surgery. Wow!! Not only did I not need glasses for anything, but I could actually see when I first opened my eyes, when I was showering, when coming out of the cold into a warm house, when swimming. It took me almost a month to stop trying to take my glasses off at night! It truly was amazing and something I did not take for granted.

And now, 17 years later, I once again find I need glasses. But just for distance, like trying to read the subtitles on a movie. So, after asking for a recommendation for a good eye doctor, off I went to the exam. (I am so thankful that just about everything is located on Main Road and Tokai Road! I haven’t been lost yet!!)

I found the place immediately, parked the car, walked to the door, had to buzz the intercom to get through the security door (a common thing here!) and entered a rather nice waiting room. After filling out the necessary forms, the ophthalmologist called me back. The first thing I noticed was that he still used the individual lenses that he manually puts in and out of the “glasses”. But, almost as quickly I noticed that he had 3 different Rubik’s Cubes on his desk.

Wanting to establish a rapport with him, I asked him about the cubes and how long it took him to solve one. Boy, did I hit on his passion. He told me that he was slow. It took him 2 ½ minutes. Slow?! Then he told me that his son competed in speed cubing. I didn’t know that there was such a thing. His son’s best time was 14.2 seconds. Seconds!!!!!  And then he showed me a video that he had on his computer of his son’s best time.

I learned about tournaments, protocol, rules and the W-I-D-E price range of Rubik’s Cubes. There cheap ones like I have bought, but then the expensive ones built specifically for competitions. You can even adjust the tension!  And he shared a lot more with me. I couldn’t remember it all, so I Googled it for you. I am only going to share 10 of the 40 facts!

• Rubik’s Cube celebrated its 40th birthday this year.
• The inventor, Rubik, of course, wanted a working model to help explain 3 dimensional geometry.
• It won Toy of the Year Award in 1980 and 1981.
• Over 350 million cubes have been sold worldwide, making it the bestselling toy of all times.
• A Rubik’s Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations.
• With six colored sides, 21 pieces and 54 outer surfaces, there’s a combined total of over 43 QUINTILLION different possible configurations.
• The best speed cubers can solve the cube in under 6 seconds.
• A three-year-old in China solved the puzzle in under two minutes.

The first annual International Rubik’s Championships were held in 1982.

Every legal permutation of the Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves or less.

Then came the eye exam. And after that, I asked him if he had another patient coming in right away. No, and he had some time. So, I messed up his Rubik’s cube and told him to solve it. Well, he was trying to explain it to me while he was doing it. After about a minute of this, I told him that I was so lost, he could stop the explanation! He used the word, “algorithm” a lot. And while I know it is some type of math term, I would not be able to define it! And he would explain his moves, but they were done so fast, that I truly couldn’t put his words with what he was doing. And yes, he did solve it!

Sunday we visited our 4th church in Cape Town. It is very small Presbyterian Church which currently does not have a pastor. A young seminary student who works with a drug rehabilitation program gave the sermon on running the Christian race with perseverance. While the whole sermon was good, two points stuck with me.

Is, like Paul, “knowing Christ” my passion?” Philippians 3.10 “I want to know Christ. . . “

Do I wake up with joy knowing I am going to know Jesus better today than I did yesterday?

Dr. C told me that no one who does speed cubing can walk by an unsolved cube. And whenever they are sitting, they have to be cubing. I was in his office for about 45 minutes and 25 of those minutes was dedicated solely to cubing, not counting the time we continued to talk about it while he was doing the exam.

I am embarrassed and yes, ashamed, to say that no, I do not have Paul’s kind of passion for Christ. I can walk by my Bible without picking it up. When I am watching TV or a movie, I am playing games on my phone or by computer. I can have an hour conversation with someone and not talk about the Lord once.

Saturday was another example of passion. There was a big rugby game for South Africa in the World Cup. They won their quarter final match and are now in the semi-finals. We watched the game with another couple and I was cheering and yelling and very excited. So excited, that I wanted Dwight to immediately upgrade our DSTV so that we could watch the next game. Thankfully, it wasn’t that easy to do. And then came the sermon on Sunday.

I want my passion to be Christ. Not rugby. I want to have a relationship with Him that supersedes all else in my life. I want to turn my eyes upon Jesus. To look full in His wonderful face. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

I wish it was as easy as Jean-Luc Picard telling William Riker in Star Trek to “make it so.” But it isn’t. I need to be faithful. I need to keep my focus on Him. But, I know I don’t do it alone.

“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” James 4.8

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Have you ever had your view of your reality shaken?  That is what I experienced this week. . . AGAIN!

I am definitely now feeling settled.

Our apartment is set up and my shopping list is down to a good vegetable peeler, a steel wok and a knife block.

I can drive up and down Main Road without getting lost. This road runs north/south and our apartment complex is on it and the office is just one turn off it.

Link to Google map showing our place and the SIM Office.

I know my way around the large mall that is just across the street from the SIM Southern Africa office. I even did grocery shopping by myself for the first time since November due to painful feet.

I can get to my wonderful physical therapist (which is why I could go grocery shopping by myself!) and even parallel park on the left side of the road. OK, to be honest, it took me more time to parallel park the first time than it took to drive from the office, but the second time, I did it on the first try!

I know how to use the combination washer/dryer with all its electronic options and how much to load it to minimize the wrinkles. I have figured out how to most efficiently load the dishwasher. Quit laughing. I haven’t used a dishwasher in Africa. Ever.

I have figured out how to use the remotes for the TV and DSTV. Again, no laughing. We have never had DSTV in Africa. I am greatly enjoying watching a show called Master Chef Australia, although the episode on making sushi convinced me further that sushi is not going to be in my food repertoire!

I love the ease of driving here. I love the variety in shopping. I love the quality of medical care. And then came a wake-up call yesterday.

A friend came to get me to go fabric shopping. She told me about a riot that was taking place in Muizenberg on False Bay and where she lives. A riot? Here? When Dwight came home in the evening, he told me that the Director had been delayed by two hours by the riot.

Because Dwight had been Crisis Manager in Kenya, he received emails and text message alerts from various reliable sources. And he would then pass along relevant ones to the SIM Kenya community. I was very used to getting numerous alerts each week. But that was Kenya. This is South Africa.

Even though I have been given multiple warnings about driving with doors locked, keeping my apartment locked and seen the higher degree of security measures, I have felt very safe here. I haven’t been concerned that my purse would be snatched. I have enjoyed being out in the evening, not thinking about car hijackings or police hassles.

And then the news of the riots. I found my thoughts going to, “Well, what if I had been going that way? Why didn’t someone alert me to the danger?” And I had to force myself to turn to the Lord. I prayed that the riot would stop. But, I also asked Him to not allow this to rob me of the peace and contentment I have been feeling. My peace hasn’t been in the ease of day to day living here, but in Him, and so I don’t need to give up that peace in the face of civil unrest. And my peace was restored.

I will continue to drive up and down Main Road. And I may even venture further on intersecting roads. I will continue to enjoy the ease of shopping and going out at night. And I will remember that He is my security. He is my peace.

Proverbs 18.10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.

Isaiah 26.3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

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We are in our new apartment!! Thanks to the help of many hands, not only are we in, but we are pretty settled. The only thing remaining to do is to get rid of the loads of plastic and cardboard that contained fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, mattresses, bed frames. . . you get the idea!

We still would like to get a couple of bar stools, but other than that, we are done shopping. Finally!!! I am pretty sure that, other than groceries, I am not going to want to go to any stores for a while! Yes, Dwight, you can count on that!!

We were able to put our home to the hospitality test Saturday night as we had 5 friends over to watch the SA Springboks beat Scotland in the World Cup Rugby tournament. The peninsula in the kitchen makes a great place to serve food from and it is easy for 2 or 3 people to maneuver between and around the kitchen. Because of the openness, everyone felt free to get up and refill their own plates and glasses. Just the way we like to host people!

For the first time, we own a duvet! They sure are puffy and very warm. The temps have been in the 50s and the homes are not heated, so all that fluffiness is very welcome!! And, I love that it makes the bed incredibly easy to make. You don’t have to worry about wrinkles. The poof hides them all!!

I am so thankful how God led us to just the right pieces of furniture and how everything came together. There is traditional, antique and modern. It all came together with just the right amount of quirkiness. I love the rug we found and it is soooo soft!!

Dwight and I did not go to church today, but chose to stay home and spend some extended time in prayer together. We have been spending so much time in preparing a place to live – from searching out rental properties and viewing them, to settling on one, to furnishing it from scratch and to moving - we feel the process has taken all our energy. Dwight starts at the office tomorrow and it is very important to us to prepare our hearts and minds. I felt the Lord leading me to picking prayers of God’s people that are recorded in His Word. Our desire is to join God in what He is already praying for us.  I am not going to write out all the prayers here, but I will summarize how I applied them to us.

• 1 Chronicles 1.7-12 – Answering God when He asks us what we want Him to do.
• Nehemiah 1.3-11 – Confession and asking God to rebuild.
• John 17.20-26 – Jesus’ prayer for unity for us today
• Romans 12.12 – Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
• Romans 15.5-6 – Live in harmony in order to glorify God.
• Romans 15.13 – God of hope filling us through His Holy Spirit.
• 2 Corinthians 2.14-16 – Leads us to spread His fragrance to both the saved and the unsaved.
• Ephesians 1.13-15 – Blessed, chosen and adopted.
• Ephesians 1.17-19 – Spiritual wisdom and revelation to know the hope of His calling.
• Ephesians 3.16-19 – Filled to the fullness of God.
• Philippians 1.6 – He will bring it to completion.
• Philippians 1.9-11 - That our love may about more and more so that we can decide what is best.
• Colossians 1.9-12 Asking God to fill us with His knowledge and wisdom that we might bear fruit.
• 1 Thessalonians 1.2-3 Thanking God for our teammates.
• 1 Thessalonians 5.23-24 He who calls us is faithful; He will surely do it.

And I will finish with a slightly paraphrased incredible blessing from 2 Thessalonians 2.16-17. “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, Who loves us and gives us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort our hearts and establish us in every good work and word.”

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Greetings!

My newest blog (click here) is a bit different. It is almost all pictures of a couple of tours that we went on. One was a cultural tour, teaching us more about the area we live in and its history. The second was pure pleasure as we headed to Hermanus to see if we could spot whales. Both were thoroughly enjoyable. I don’t think I will ever tire of God’s amazing creation – not just the mountains and the oceans, but His people. As we went on the cultural tour, I was impacted by the economic disparity. There were the poor of the poor and the rich of the rich. And yet, all had a view of God’s majesty of creation with mountains looming all around. Jesus told us that there would be poor with us always, but I know that He wants us to be Him to them. May we learn how to do that. And in doing so, may we not forget that ALL need Him, regardless of income, education, position in society.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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For someone who doesn’t really enjoy shopping (unless it is earrings for my daughter or presents for my grandkids!), I sure have been having a lot of fun this past week! Setting up a home from scratch is not done in one shopping trip! We brought a few of our favorite kitchen utensils, Dwight’s coffee machine and that is about it. On Wednesday we signed a lease on a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home in Diep River, just 10 minutes from the office. The complex has a lap pool, a gym and a barbecue (braai – pronounced bry, which rhymes with try) area. You can go to http://urbanspin.co.za/devplan.html to see the development plan and the floor plan. And, just for the fun of it, I have included the websites for my shopping experiences!

We need everything. Dishes, pots and pans, living room furniture, table and chairs, beds, linens – well, just look around your home and see what you need and you get the idea. While this could seem a massive undertaking (and it truly is), Cape Town has lots of used furniture places.  I have had so much fun with Hildegard (an SIMer who has been helping us get oriented to Cape Town), poking around in these stores.  Dwight was sick the majority of the week, so he didn’t get in on the fun. But, I took him back to one today and we bought a drop leaf table. Our apartment isn’t very big, so I thought a drop leaf table would be perfect and I found one at a very reasonable price. The picture is showing only one side up, so with both sides up, it is 4 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Hildegard told us about a store called Makro (http://makro.co.za/). It sounds like it might be sort of like Sam’s Club or Cosco. You have to be a member to buy there, but unlike the American stores, membership is free. They also have an extensive on-line store, so last night I went through my whole shopping list and jotted down prices from their on-line site. It was good to be able to get an idea of what things cost from the comfort of where we are staying and all at one site.

But, the fun was only just starting. Within a five minute walk of our office and mission guest house, where we are currently staying, is the Blue Route Mall (http://www.blueroutemall.co.za). It is as nice as any mall we have been in anywhere in the world! They have a store there called Dion Wired (www.dionwired.co.za ) where we found some great deals. And how did I know they were great deals?  Because I had the prices already jotted down from Markos! We went just to look today and rather unexpectedly bought a fridge, printer, washer/dryer combination unit and a hand blender with attachments. That checked off a number of things from our list. (Yes, I think that is my favorite part – checking items off!) Then we went to Checkers in the mall, which happens to be a Hyper Checkers (www.tiendeo.co.za/stores/cape-town/checkers-hyper-cnr.../5898 ), kind of like a Super WalMart. Along with some much needed groceries, we bought dishes. 

I absolutely love them. They remind me of the incredible views of mountains that are all around us here.  We were also able to buy a hair cutter (is that what you call it?) for Dwight. His old one sold quite a while ago in Kenya and while I have been trimming around his ears and on his neck with a beard trimmer, he really needs a cut!!

So, three different shopping experiences. The first was crawling in and around loads of used items – furniture, appliances, decorations – you name it! The second one was on-line. Just hitting a few keys and having things pop up with all the information I needed to make a seemingly informed decision. And the third was in a shopping mall.  A very nice shopping mall. Prices were clearly listed. There were informed and helpful people to give assistance.

I started to compare the various ways of shopping with the different ways I approach God’s word, which leads me to approaching God. There are the times when I am doing an in-depth Bible study. I have to poke around, following cross-references, reading commentaries and study notes. Often I come up with hidden treasures that I wouldn’t have found if I had only looked on the surface.

Then there are the times that I quick need a verse and just quickly type as much as I can remember into Google. It finds all the verses that come close to what I have typed in and I can quickly and easily use that verse for what I needed.

And then there is the reading I do that leads me to God’s word, but it has a lot of other stuff as well. For instance, I am reading Beth Moore’s “Believing God.” Yes, it is God’s word, but it is also Beth Moore’s. And I am reading a book written by South African Afrika Mhlophe for South Africans called, “Freed by God But Imprisoned by Culture.” Lots of great references to God’s word, but also more than that.

Isn’t it wonderful that God uses such a variety of ways to teach us more about Him?!

“For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Colossians 1.16

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Dwight

Dwight is patient, Dwight is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor me, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. Dwight does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

For the first time I am sitting at the SIM Southern Africa office working on my computer. And Dwight is back at the Mission House with a bad cold. When I realized that Dwight would not be joining me at the office today, I had a few slightly anxious moments. How would I deal with the guy coming with the car we think are going to purchase? How would I keep going with all the realtors I contacted to set up times without his input? And then I realized that of course I could do those things. And that lead me to thinking.

Dwight has almost always been there for me. He does an incredible job of supporting me, caring for me, loving me. While the last years in Kenya since he finished his term at Director have been strange, they have also been wonderful. He has been working on media and crisis management from home and so we have seen a lot of each other. We are entering a new stage. He will be at the office and most likely I will not. That means he will actually leave our home (wherever that might be) for 9-10 hours each day.

We have made the commitment to reading God’s Word, praying and eating breakfast together each morning. So, that will most definitely help. But, it is going to be so strange to have a comment to make or a question to ask and he isn’t there. Yes, he is just a text away, but it won’t be the same. I know it won’t. And that makes me just a bit sad.

There are going to be huge parts of our days that we will not share with one another. When we get together again, I know we will talk about our days, but we won’t have experienced what each other did. So, where am I going with this?

I guess, I just needed to get in writing how much I love and appreciate my husband. My heart is full of gratitude for him and the unconditional love and favor he shows me. I haven’t been an easy wife. I went through a deep depression that greatly impacted him and still continues to be a factor in our lives. I have been on crutches for the last 10 months! (That long?!!) He has done so much to support me (quite literally!) in so many ways.  Cooking. Laundry. Shopping. Our marriage vows said, “For better or worse. . . in sickness and in health.” Dwight has fulfilled our vows.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13.4-7

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" Luke 12.22-26

This was part of my reading this morning and I felt like the Lord wrote it directly to me! We arrived in Cape Town early Monday evening. It is amazing how I already feel engaged. I don’t have any duties yet, other than finding a house and car, but more about that later. We have been so warmly welcomed by all, as evidenced by the flowers given to us and this sign that was waiting for us at the office!

I am almost continually in awe at how God is continuing to speak to my heart. In the past months of waiting, I felt like I was starting to learn to trust God for Who He is and not just for what He does. The peace that had come to me through all those weeks has continued to be with me here.

In my August 28 blog, entitled, “God in My Media” I shared about a movie I watched on YouTube. I wrote,

It is a great movie in which Jesus is a diner owner, cook and server. He has come to make Himself known to a married couple and 3 singles. One of my favorite parts is when He tells the people that they can order off the menu if they like, but if they special order, allowing Him to tell them what they would really like, then their meal is free. Jesus then proceeds to tell each person what would most satisfy them. The wife demands to order from the menu. I wonder how many times I do just that. I want to pick and choose from a list of options when in fact Jesus is saying, “Let Me give you what will most satisfy you.”

This continues to impact me as I trust God to give us a car and home that will not just meet all our needs, but will actually satisfy us. We have spent a good percentage of our time since arriving in Cape Town searching for a house or apartment and a car. I have left my name and phone number with many realtors. I admit I was a little frustrated that it doesn’t seem the norm for us to get a realtor of our own, so that we have someone that knows what we need and want and can look for us.

Oh, but wait a minute. We do have one. The One. And He knows exactly what we need and exactly what we want. So, as I read the verses in Luke this morning, I thought I could rewrite them to something like this. . .

Then Jesus said to his Dorothy:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your ministry, what you will drive; or about your sore feet, where you will live. For life is more than ministry, and the aches and pains more than homes. Consider the wildlife: They do not search or test drive, they have no garage or home; yet God meets their needs. And how much more valuable you are than the animals! Can you, Dorothy, by worrying add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?"

I wouldn’t trade the peace and the calmness I have been feeling for anything!!

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13.12

There have been many instances in my life where I have really wanted something, only to be led to the conclusion that I was not going to get it. The first of these, that I can recall is she I was about 10 years old. I really wanted a watch for my birthday. I mean I REALLY wanted a watch. Now, normally, my brothers and I received what we wanted. I guess we were reasonable in our requests (Oh, now that would be an interesting topic for a future blog!)

Our family was living in Germany at the time and that year was the only really big birthday party that I remember. There were lots of presents, party favors, fun and food. But, no watch. I remember trying hard to not be disappointed. It was a great party. But, no watch.

The time came for the birthday cake. We usually had angel food cake for birthdays. I was given the task of cutting the cake. As I cut into it, the knife met with resistance. There was something I the center of the cake. You guessed it. A watch!

The next desire I want to share was for my husband. The first time I met him, the first week of our freshman year of university, I knew, REALLY KNEW that this was the guy I was going to marry. We spent loads of time together. He was the photo editor of the large school newspaper and I was the presidents of the major events council. So, often, he was taking pictures of events I was in charge of.

Our friendship grew, but that was it. Then we went to visit his family one weekend. I came back to my parent’s home, sure that Dwight and I were never going to get beyond friends. That is the weekend my older brother introduced me to Jesus Christ. So, I thought I lost Dwight. But, I received my Savior. And oh, yes, I did marry Dwight on April 12, 1980.

The next memory is a difficult one. I really wanted, REALLY WANTED, our 2 year old daughter to be healed from HIV/AIDS. She contracted the disease when blood that was taken for various testing was replaced. Jessica and Rebeka were born on 4 September 1984. They were born 3 months premature and 6 months before donated blood was tested for the disease. Jessica was diagnosed with HIV when she was 18 months old. Our whole family and network of friends prayed for healing, but she died just 6 weeks after her 2nd birthday. We firmly believe we will see her again one day.

I don't understand all the reasons why God's answer to my prayer for her healing were "No."  I do know that we were able to share the Gospel on national TV news shows and I do know that Jessica's death is what lead us to missions.

And that brings me to what happened today. We picked up our valid 3 year volunteer visas for South Africa! Yes, this season of waiting is coming to an end. We have tickets booked to fly from Nairobi to Cape Town on Monday, 6 September.

We thought we were going to be moving there by the end of May and now it is 3 months, 3 long months later. Why? Well, for at least a partial answer to that, maybe go back and read some of my previous blogs. I surely don't have all the answers,
but what I can confidently attest to is that . . .

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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The Lord showed me something today as I was talking to a fellow missionary who had just returned from a trip up country. I was asking him how his trip went. I have always been impressed with this young man and his family. He has such a personal relationship with Jesus and I love hearing him talk about it as it encourages me in my walk with the Lord.

He asked about how we were doing in this present leg of our journey. It was so cool to be able to tell him that we were doing well and I referred to the blog I just wrote yesterday about definitely being in God’s peace. And then God showed me something I wasn’t expecting at all.

He brought to mind Matthew 11:28-30. I have longed loved this verse in The Message, which reads,

“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to Me.  Get away with Me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with Me and work with Me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

I am especially drawn to the two phrases, “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace,” and “You’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” I love the hope that is in those phrases. Jesus wouldn’t tell me to learn something if it was impossible for me to learn. Grace is not my default. I can be critical, judgmental, harsh in my thinking and unfortunately, also in my words and actions. But, I want grace to be more my “go-to” response. And I think I am further along now than I was years ago. I really like the word picture this creates for me, that grace is an unforced rhythm. I have been doing some stationary biking and it is so much easier when I get in the rhythm. It becomes less forced, more natural.

The second phrase equally impacts me. Jesus is not just telling me to learn, but He is telling me “you will learn!” How incredible is that? I will learn to live freely and lightly. I have a bit of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OK, quit laughing! I have more than a bit. Not to the extent of Monk, but I sure don’t see why so many people laugh at him. Jesus is telling me that I can learn to live differently.

Well, all that brings me to what Jesus revealed to me this morning. He brought the words of the same verse to mind, but in the New International Version, the version I actually memorized.

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I confess that while I believed the truth of these words, there are many, many times when my response to them was more like, “Yeah, right!” or “I beg to differ!” And yet, this morning, somehow is the middle of talking to this friend, Jesus showed me the truth of them. It isn’t that the burden itself is light or easy. It is that He is carrying it with me. He, the Almighty God - the All-Powerful. I thought about when the guys took down the huge dead tree on the compound and then carried very heavy logs away. On their own, they had no possibility of carrying one of them, but when they all worked together, the burden was made light and possible. Not only is Jesus carrying with me, He always takes the heavy end!!

As I was journaling about this, I recalled a verse somewhere in my collection. My verse collection is somewhat extensive and I knew I wanted to find this particular one, but thought it might take a long time! But, I discovered the search function within One Note It took me right to Psalm 68.19. And then, as I was looking for a graphic for this blog, I discovered that there are lots of Scriptures that have been drawn graphically or put with pictures, free for the using!  Wow!! Three lessons, all helpful and all on a Saturday.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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I wondered whether or not I would write today, Friday being my normal blog day, since I had just written on Monday. But I have so much I want to share. And guess what?! It is not about waiting!! (You should read Dwight’s blog about broken records!)

It seems the Lord is turning me to Himself in what I read, what I watch, how I spend my free time, of which, unfortunately, I have plenty. Oh, but I wasn’t going to talk about waiting, was I?! 

Did you know that you can watch movies and TV shows for free on YouTube? Ok, that question is probably not aimed at the generation after mine, but I have found this discovery to be wonderful. We don’t have cable TV or even a TV. We used to have a projector we used for showing DVDS, but that sold a long time ago. And neither of our computers have a DVD player in them, so I am very thankful for YouTube. I usually go for mysteries – especially the British series. But, lately, I have been going to Christian movies. (Part of that, I am sad to say, is because I have watched all the British mystery series!!)

So, the first one I watched was called “The Encounter”. It is a great movie in which Jesus is a diner owner, cook and server. He has come to make Himself known to a married couple and 3 singles. One of my favorite parts is when He tells the people that they can order off the menu if they like, but if they special order, allowing Him to tell them what they would really like, then their meal is free. Jesus then proceeds to tell each person what would most satisfy them. The wife demands to order from the menu.  I wonder how many times I do just that. I want to pick and choose from a list of options when in fact Jesus is saying, “Let Me give you what will most satisfy you.”

I love to read. No, I mean I really, really, really LOVE to read. A friend turned me on to BookBub, which sends me a daily email with 4 or 5 choices of ebooks for little or no money. Yes, you read that right – even no money – FREE! You get to choose the genres which interest you and they stick to those categories when they send you titles. Well, of course mysteries are one of my genres, but also Christian books, true stories and biographies. I currently have 22 books on my phone that are waiting to be read and I haven’t paid money for any of them. Oh, but I digress. I didn’t mean this to be an advertisement for BookBub, but there you go!

This week I read, “The Impressionist - Becoming the Masterpiece You Were Created to Be” by Tim Clinton and Max Davis. I highly recommend it.  I posted a quote from it on my FaceBook page, so I will post a different one here.

JIM ED:"He (David) encouraged himself in the Lord."
ADAM: "What does that mean?"
JIM ED: "At first glance it sounds simple, but when you break it down, it's profound. In essence, it means David knew who he was and understood the source of his strength. He understood his real identity regardless of what others thought of him or how rotten his life seemed. He understood his identity and his enemy. Even in the deepest pits of despair and failure, David was secure in who he was, or should I say who his God was."

I was looking for another movie yesterday. I again typed in “Christian Movies” on YouTube’s site. Many of them are clumped together and you have to do something additional to actually be able to watch them, so I skipped over those. On page three I came to “Ragamuffin 2014 Biography,” the story of Rich Mullens. I tell you, this movie is an incredible tribute to our awesome God!  If you don’t have two hours to watch the whole thing (it is well worth the time investment), then just go to the one hour, fifteen minute mark and watch for about 3 minutes. God used this pastor’s message to convey His love, His unconditional love, to Rich which changed his life.

I think God is using these movies and books to help me allow Him to become bigger and bigger in my life without me becoming smaller and smaller (from the book, Mister God, This is Anna – another favorite!). He is so much bigger than I can even imagine and yet at the same time, so much more intimate than I can ever hope for.

A friend sent me this verse this week:  ISAIAH 54.10 “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” To be able to honestly say that the vast majority of the time (97.8%) I have total peace during this time (notice I did NOT use the “wait” word or any form of it!) is really so much more precious to me than any visa could ever be. He continues to reveal Himself, deepening my relationship with Him, definitely through His Word, but also through movies and books.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

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