About 10 months ago...I had just arrived in Tanzania and I was sitting down to try and create this blog. I couldn't think of a name for it and I was asking God to give me one. Naming my blog felt like a big deal to me and I wanted the name to mean something. I was drinking out of a coffee cup and was just sitting staring at it and reading the verse on it over and over and...that's where the name of my blog came from.
Isaiah 43:1
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."
I love this verse - it reminds me of some very important facts.
1) God has redeemed me completely
2) He has summoned me, by name...me - specifically
3) I belong to him and he loves me!
That verse has special meaning to me now :) But, I'll be honest... I never remembered the "address" of the verse. I forgot that it was in Isaiah for sure... I only remembered what it meant to me.
But then about a week and half ago I was talking to God and I asked him for a verse. All I got was 432... so I looked at page 432 of my Bible. That wasn't it. But I know that 432 was right... So I just started looking at each book of the Bible...4th chapter...and looking for verse 32. Nothing... so I started looking at chapter 43, verse 2. As soon as I got to Isaiah 43:2... I knew I'd found it.
Isaiah 43:2
"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fires of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
So I took a picture with my phone, so that I could read this verse any time - even when I wasn't at home with my Bible. I've read it, I don't know how many times... and yesterday I decided I wanted to find an image to set as the lock screen on my phone. So I started searching online and one of the first images that came up had Isaiah 43:1-2 on it. Until that moment...I had no clue that the verse I had been looking at for over a week was the continuation of the one that God had given me almost a year ago.
I am still mulling over the fact that God gave me a verse when I first arrived here, and then gave me the continuation of it right before I am leaving for the U.S. It is a reminder for me of those three facts contained in verse 1...and a reminder for me that God is always thinking of me.
It feels sort of like those verses are the first and last pages of a chapter... so much has happened between those two verses...those two pages. This chapter is so full! My life has been changed forever; I have been changed forever.
I can't wait to see how the next year unfolds! God is good :)
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
40 weeks...
The other day I was looking at a calendar, counting the number of weeks that I have been in Tanzania and I made a discovery... I have been here, in Tanzania, for almost 39 full weeks... and by the time I board a plane for the U.S. I will have been here for just over 41 weeks.
When I was counting and hit 40, my immediate thought was that 40 weeks is the length of pregnancy. That felt like a huge realization to me, and I began looking at some of the things that God has been birthing in me over the past (almost) 40 weeks.
These months have been a time of huge growth in many areas of my life. I feel that I have grown and changed so much. I can say, with certainty, that my relationship with God has changed deeply.
I have grown to know him more as a father and I have had deeper revelations of his love for me. I have had times when I felt so very far from God...times when it felt like a struggle to even talk to him...and I have had times where I have felt closer to him than ever before.
I have learned to rely on him for peace more and more. Moving halfway across the world is...hard. I have faced struggles and difficulties that I never expected, new (and sometimes scary) situations, uncertainty and sadness... and in all these situations he has been right here by my side. I have found peace and comfort in stressful and uncomfortable places/situations over and over again.
I have also had so, so many times of rejoicing with God and thanking him for the amazing things that he has made possible in my life. So many amazing experiences, learning from my kids (on a daily basis) about God's love and power.
The list goes on... God has also healed me of some things that I didn't even realize were still buried deeply. He has helped me to see a greater level of the joy that is possible in life... our capacity for joy is unimaginable - maybe I could say he has increased my capacity for joy by helping me rid myself of some of the things that were taking up space.
Life is an amazing adventure...and I am so thankful!!! God loves me... I am precious and valuable to him... he is a good father! :)
When I was counting and hit 40, my immediate thought was that 40 weeks is the length of pregnancy. That felt like a huge realization to me, and I began looking at some of the things that God has been birthing in me over the past (almost) 40 weeks.
These months have been a time of huge growth in many areas of my life. I feel that I have grown and changed so much. I can say, with certainty, that my relationship with God has changed deeply.
I have grown to know him more as a father and I have had deeper revelations of his love for me. I have had times when I felt so very far from God...times when it felt like a struggle to even talk to him...and I have had times where I have felt closer to him than ever before.
I have learned to rely on him for peace more and more. Moving halfway across the world is...hard. I have faced struggles and difficulties that I never expected, new (and sometimes scary) situations, uncertainty and sadness... and in all these situations he has been right here by my side. I have found peace and comfort in stressful and uncomfortable places/situations over and over again.
I have also had so, so many times of rejoicing with God and thanking him for the amazing things that he has made possible in my life. So many amazing experiences, learning from my kids (on a daily basis) about God's love and power.
The list goes on... God has also healed me of some things that I didn't even realize were still buried deeply. He has helped me to see a greater level of the joy that is possible in life... our capacity for joy is unimaginable - maybe I could say he has increased my capacity for joy by helping me rid myself of some of the things that were taking up space.
Life is an amazing adventure...and I am so thankful!!! God loves me... I am precious and valuable to him... he is a good father! :)
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