So I am going to be real honest with you, I am not the
greatest blog writer and so I am not sure how this whole blog thing is going to
go. I had a blog a few years ago but I was not all that disciplined about
posting so I took it down. My hope for this blog is to give you an idea of what
my life is like here in West Africa. I also hope to give you an idea of what is
going through my head and what is on my heart. I can’t guarantee that
everything I post on here is will be happy and fun, because lets be honest,
life is hard and it is not always happy and fun, but my hope is that with every
post you read you will see how faithful our Father is, and how He is moving and
working, even in the hardest of places. I think it is going to be a pretty wild
ride, so hang on…here goes nothing!
I have been in West Africa for about 6 weeks now, and it has been non-stop since. There are days when I can’t believe that it is already the middle of May. I mean where did the time go? When I look back on the last 6 weeks I think about all of the awesome things the Father has done and how He has been moving. But there are some days when I get frustrated and only think about how things have not gone how I thought they would and forget how faithful He has been. I think that seems to be a tendency for a lot of us; we spend time looking back on how faithful the Father has been, but when something bad happens, we seem to forget all of that and only focus only on our frustrations. It seems like in life we spend too much time focusing on the negative, when we should just give in all to Him and know that He is faithful in every part of life. Now I know, that is soooo much easier said than done, but how many times in The Word does it talk about how faithful He is? Ok I don’t know the exact number, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot.
When I first got to WA I started to read through the book of Joshua. I wanted to read through something that showed the Father’s faithfulness as well as what it looks like to have total trust in Him. And come on, if walking around a wall 7 times and yelling doesn’t take trust I don’t know what does! So I began reading Joshua and I got to chapter 4, where it talks about the 12 memorial stones. Joshua told one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a stone and they built an alter to the Father. This alter was to remind the people of Israel of all that the Father had done for them. When they had days full of frustration and sorrow, they could look at the memorial and be reminded of how faithful the Father had been to them. When I read this I was like, man that would be kind of cool, to have my own memorial made of stones, each stone representing a time when He has been faithful. So that is what I did, I looked back over the last 1½ years and started listing all of the ways the Father has been faithful. For those of you that don’t know, I started the application to come to WA over a year and a half ago. It was a long, and at times, frustrating process, but when I look back on it all, it is so easy to see how faithful He has been through it all. I could focus on how long the process was or on how things may be different than I originally thought they would be. I could focus on how hot it is here, or the fact that I don't have electricity 24 hours a day. I could focus on how frustrating the culture in WA can be or how I really wish I could just go get Taco Bell. But instead I am going focus on how faithful He has been to get me here and how He will be faithful to keep me here and to use me.
So while things in WA don’t always go as planned…ok really they rarely go as planned…on those days when I get so frustrated with everything, I will look at my pile of rocks and remember how faithful He has been and how He will continue to be faithful through it all. Who knew, a little pile of rocks could be such a simple reminder of something so great.
I have been in West Africa for about 6 weeks now, and it has been non-stop since. There are days when I can’t believe that it is already the middle of May. I mean where did the time go? When I look back on the last 6 weeks I think about all of the awesome things the Father has done and how He has been moving. But there are some days when I get frustrated and only think about how things have not gone how I thought they would and forget how faithful He has been. I think that seems to be a tendency for a lot of us; we spend time looking back on how faithful the Father has been, but when something bad happens, we seem to forget all of that and only focus only on our frustrations. It seems like in life we spend too much time focusing on the negative, when we should just give in all to Him and know that He is faithful in every part of life. Now I know, that is soooo much easier said than done, but how many times in The Word does it talk about how faithful He is? Ok I don’t know the exact number, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot.
When I first got to WA I started to read through the book of Joshua. I wanted to read through something that showed the Father’s faithfulness as well as what it looks like to have total trust in Him. And come on, if walking around a wall 7 times and yelling doesn’t take trust I don’t know what does! So I began reading Joshua and I got to chapter 4, where it talks about the 12 memorial stones. Joshua told one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a stone and they built an alter to the Father. This alter was to remind the people of Israel of all that the Father had done for them. When they had days full of frustration and sorrow, they could look at the memorial and be reminded of how faithful the Father had been to them. When I read this I was like, man that would be kind of cool, to have my own memorial made of stones, each stone representing a time when He has been faithful. So that is what I did, I looked back over the last 1½ years and started listing all of the ways the Father has been faithful. For those of you that don’t know, I started the application to come to WA over a year and a half ago. It was a long, and at times, frustrating process, but when I look back on it all, it is so easy to see how faithful He has been through it all. I could focus on how long the process was or on how things may be different than I originally thought they would be. I could focus on how hot it is here, or the fact that I don't have electricity 24 hours a day. I could focus on how frustrating the culture in WA can be or how I really wish I could just go get Taco Bell. But instead I am going focus on how faithful He has been to get me here and how He will be faithful to keep me here and to use me.
So while things in WA don’t always go as planned…ok really they rarely go as planned…on those days when I get so frustrated with everything, I will look at my pile of rocks and remember how faithful He has been and how He will continue to be faithful through it all. Who knew, a little pile of rocks could be such a simple reminder of something so great.
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