Wilderness

Fact: I know i said i'd be more faithful in updating this, but i've failed in that already and I apologize. there has been so many wonderful things that i didn't want to miss out on so i haven't been on the computer much at all. but, let me briefly update you on a few of the great things God has been doing in thailand --
1. we gained a brother in Christ last week at BJD!! He is one of the precious boys that live in the house, and he finally couldn't resist our wonderful Jesus anymore! Yay God!
2. Jo, Rach, and I met two girls, Aung and Sun, on campus about 2 weeks ago, and they have been back to the coffee shop every day since! they are adorable girls and they really seem to love BJD, so be praying for them
3. rach and I went to the red light district in downtown bangkok and got to see and pray over that -- pray for freedom for the girls trafficked and that God would transform the hearts and lives of everyone involved in that industry. pray that God would completely abolish it.
4. we went to a beautiful beach on an island off the coast of thailand last weekend and it was gorgeous -- such a wonderful blessing.

so lately i've been reading a book called "Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On" by Stormie Omartian, and she makes a lot of good points, but i've really been focusing on one lately: the wilderness. So often I feel like people want to go from Egypt into the Promised Land, but don't want to go through the wilderness first, but actually that is one of the most critical places in our lives. The wilderness is where God trims away all the things we don't need -- often He takes away all of our comforts and makes it so all of our old tricks won't work where we are going -- so that we only rely on Him. We can either embrace this or reject it. Throughout most of this trip, although God has been with me through every step of it, He has definitely taken away every single comfort that I've had, and until I decided to embrace it, it was very hard. Not saying that there still aren't days when it's hard to not be able to call home, or get in my car and drive to relieve frustration, but because I can't do those things, it has been absolutely essential to learn to press into God and have Him be my comfort, rather than anything else I've ever depended on. Also, it is absolutely key that we stay exactly in the light that God has given for us. Often, He doesn't give us much light, but because He lives in us, He gives us the exact amount of life we need to be where we are at, and that creates us to rely more on Him, rather than our finances, our five-year plan, or any other sort of plan that we put our hope in. I feel like I learn that the hard way over and over again. By nature, I am a planner. I like to know what I have to do and what it looks like, and I've clung to that. But I now have been clinging to God, and because He is so much more stable than any plan I could make for sure, there is an overwhelming peace in me that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. But anyway, like I was saying, it is absolutely key that we stay exactly in the amount of light He gives us, not trying to run ahead, or lag behind, or striving to go somewhere else apart from Him. The author gives this piece of advice, "If God leads you into some kind of wilderness, forget your Egypt as quickly as you can. The comforts you once knew won't be there, so don't expect them. Don't be upset about what you think you're missing or lacking -- let go of those griefs so you can enjoy the journey. Be happy where God has you. No one ever gets out of the wilderness as soon as they'd like to, so refuse to feel deprived."
that's my prayer - to feel at home wherever God has me, whether that's in Morton, California, Thailand, or anywhere on earth. and as a challenge to you, reflect on times that God may have called you to a season of being in the wilderness, what was your attitude about it? did you depend on God with a grateful heart or did you try to reject it as much as you could?

thank you so much for all of your prayers and support -- keep them coming. i'll try to update one more time before we leave for Vietnam, but we do leave in a week so I'm not making any promises! :)