Give To the Wind Thy Fears - 1653, Paul Gerhardt

"Far, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear.
Leave to his sovereign will
To choose and to command:
With wonder filled, thou then shalt own
How wise, how strong His hand."

I Will Heal Them

"God lives forever and is holy. He is high and lifted up. He says,'I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are sad and humble. I give new life to those who are humble and to those whose hearts are broken. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, because then human life would grow weak. Human beings, whom I created, would die...I have seen what they have done but I will heal them. I will guide them and comfort them and those who felt sad for them. They will all praise me. I will give peace, real peace to those far and near, and I will heal them,' says the Lord."
From somewhere in Isaiah. 
Finding rest and peace in His love tonight. :)

As He Loved

“God loved us, and through his grace he gave us a good hope and encouragement that continues for ever.” 2 Thess. 2:17

How does a Holy, Perfect, Good, All-Powerful God love? Certainly not like someone like me, a sinner plagued by selfishness and pride. We can feel the love of our God, our Savior, and sometimes can grasp part of it, but do we fully comprehend the awesome love of our Father? The clearest glimpse we can have of it is when we look at Christ, the Creator of the Universe humbling Himself to become a man and die on a cross. He is our peace; He is our righteousness; He is our hope; He is our joy; He is our Love. “And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love- how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ’s love is greater that anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.”-Eph 3:18-19 The only way someone like me, a sinner plagued by selfishness and pride, can truly love is to let the Sacrificial Lover, Jesus Christ, love through me. To let him use my full person, actions and words, tears and smiles, life and death, to love as He loved.

"I know of nothing so utterly exciting as being a Christian, sharing the very Life of Jesus Christ on earth right here and now, being caught up with Him into the relentless, invincible purposes of the almighty God, and having available to us all the limitless resources of Deity for accomplishing those purposes.
    Can you imagine anything more exciting than that?"
-The Indwelling Life of Christ by Major W. Ian Thomas

Smiling :)

Matthew 8: 14-17
14 And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”


I just read this passage while I am sick with a fever and it just made me smile. :) 
Someday no one will ever face sickness, sorrow, or death again thanks to the love and grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. :) 

Yesterday, my sis, bro and I went down to the lake for a swim in the late afternoon. We went off the rope swing a million times. Kath and I were trying to get the momentum right to do a back flip off the rope swing. Couldn't quite get up the nerve to actually go through with it, especially after the three face plants when I was trying to flip last year. Someday...maybe this summer. Maybe next summer. :)

Drove out to my grandparents last night with my sister. We put the windows down and blared some Rascal Flatts as we drove through the summer heat down the dirt roads. When we started down there long driveway, we were faced with the tranquil field dotted with hay bales and the blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. So beautiful. :)

This morning my brother and sister-in-law came in from a walk. They had discovered a baby water turtle. He had little green stripes all down his tiny legs. Probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen. :)

I have a babysitting job. There are two kids, a brother and sister.  They normally live in California, but come to Missouri to spend the summers with their dad.  I've only spent two days with them, but I am already so attached. More than anything, I want to show them the love of Christ and speak truth into their lives. Samaria is so quiet and serious for her age; I feel like I've just been given a very special gift when she laughs or smiles at me. Silas is such a sharp cookie and loves explaining stuff to me. :) On Tuesday I was with them all day. They have a trampoline in their back yard so we went out to jump on it for a while. During my growing up years, I really never had the opportunity to be around trampolines, so I was actually kind of nervous and untrusting of it. We swept all the tree particles off of it and began to bounce. Silas showed me how he could flip and Samaria showed me how to bounce back up from a sitting position to a standing position. Being a lot bigger than them, they kept wanting me to jump more so they would bounce even higher. I started to relax a little, and the three of us held hands in a circle and started to bounce around together. It was so much fun and we ended in a fit of giggles. :) I am excited about going back to school in August, but I know that it will mean saying goodbye to two kids who are already becoming very special to me.

The Return

Well, I'm back.

Jasmine and I got up around 5:30 am on Monday morning in Cairo. When we got to the airport, we found out they had overbooked our flight, so in the end our group had to be split up onto two different flights. Eleven of us went from Cairo to Munich, then Chicago, then St. Louis. The other seven of us kept the original flight track to Paris, then Atlanta, then St. Louis. We were all sad because we all thought we would   say goodbye to eachother in St. Louis, but my group of seven were supposed to arrive two hours later than the other group.
So we said hasty goodbyes, and then we seven (and the airport people) were scrambling to get our baggage checked to make the flight to Paris. It was delayed getting off the ground. Then we had an hour or two in the Paris airport. I could see the Eiffel tower and the river Seine in the distance when we landed.
As it turns out, AirFrance went on strike, so the flight from Paris to Atlanta was also delayed.
Eventually we took off for Atlanta in a 777. We each had our own tvs, which had a bunch of movies to choose from, games, and music. BUT, even though the technology was great, that was the LONGEST plane ride I have ever been on in my life. I got REALLY stir-crazy. I was by the window in a row of three, so I couldn't get up without majorly disturbing the two ladies next to me. And, oddly and unfortunately, my normal I-can-sleep-anywhere abilities failed me. I may have slept a half-hour total.
Anyway, I have never been so glad to get off a plane. We landed around 9:30 pm and were all worried that we were going to miss our connection to Atlanta, which was supposed to leave at 10:10 pm. And we had to go through customs and security. Pretty much impossible. But then we found out that all flights had been delayed due to a storm! It was rather strange to be happy about another delay! :)
So we made it through customs in a jiffy, then waited in the airport until our plane could finally take off around midnight ( 11 pm. MO time). After an hour and a half flight, we were finally in St. Louis.
Poor Jasmine had been in the other group and was waiting in the airport for about 5 hours.
We hit the road for home, and got in about 4:30 am, and made it to bed by 5 am Tuesday. In Cairo time, that's about 1 pm. So I had been on the go for over 24 hours.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me while I have been gone! :) Glad to be home. :) Still recovering from jet lag. I could barely keep my eyes open yesterday afternoon.
Thankfully, my sister is here and she has been a big help, dragging me off on four-wheeler rides or swimming in the lake.
I love the Lake of the Ozarks, but its not quite like the Sea of Galilee.
I love Sabra hummus from Walmart, but its not quite like eating hummus in Bethlehem.
I love looking at my photos of the Nile, but its not quite like dragging my fingers in it as we sailed along.

I love the Middle East, but its not quite like being home with my family. :) :)