Post #556. Yay for two posts on consecutive days - a record for me! :-) At least, in a while ... :o)

7:20 yesterday evening found me getting out of the car at Arbor Hills for a relaxing early evening walk. If I had known how gorgeous it was, I may have tried to get out there sooner!

A balmy breeze, mixed in with the scent of Tommy Girl and the beauty of God's creation around me, made for a delicious tone in the air. I felt invigorated, refreshed, so alive. As I was thinking all these wonderfully joyous thoughts, the sighting of a little squiggly line in the path ahead of me interupted these reflections. As I got closer, it was indeed confirmed: It was a snake!

Now, I had just passed a couple of people going the other way on the path. Why that little fellow had waited to enter the human realm until I approach, I know not. Probably for the same reason I have had snakes "visit" me right outside my second-story apartment door four times and not visit my next door neighbor who lives downstairs! [Snakes climb stairs quite well ... this I know. ;-D] Oh well ...

Later in my walk I saw a really cute rabbit. A much more pleasant sighting! As I walked by the lookout tower, strains of music or chants reached my ears that sounded like those I would picture coming from an eastern religion. Then I saw where the sound was coming from - a young person dressed in bright yellow, with their head shaved like a Buddhist monk. A startling sight ... a gripping reminder. Yet as I think about it now, also a reminder of the wonderful privilige God has given me so reach such people ...

This is why I was created ... why I am here ... to know Jesus and carry the news of His redemptive love to a world that desperately needs a Savior. Beyond belief ... and how grateful I am.

Post #555.

Yay for another post!

For some reason this week felt pretty intense in the battle (Ephesians 6:12) ... I don't know that I could really pinpoint why? But it must mean the Lord is doing pretty incredible things in Asia. I get the sense it was a challenging week for many of my co-workers ... but the battle belongs to the Lord and He is greater!

I am doing pretty well now ... and looking forward to this nice weekend of fellowship and relaxation. :-) Tomorrow is a wedding for J and C (Congratulations, you two, if you're reading this! :o)) Then tomorrow night I'm looking forward to my Bible study group at church and fellowshipping with everyone over at Tin Star for a late supper.

Sunday I am likely helping my friend J.M. move. She's moving into my complex and I'm so excited!

Going into this weekend, and rejoicing for how the Lord sustained me in the battle this week, I close this post with one of my favorite Scripture passages:

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17,18)

I have been having this wonderful sense these days of abiding in the Lord ... of knowing the wonderfulness of who I am in Him, amid the hustle and bustle of daily life ... and it's a great feeling. A "feeling" would probably not even be the best way to describe it ... more of a heightened awareness of His incredible sovereignty.

He has been doing some pretty incredible things in my life lately ... and I am filled to the brim with joy and gratitude. :-)

Well, it's beautiful weather out there so I think I'm going to try to take a walk and then maybe work just a bit on a writing project that's due tomorrow.

All in all, I had a good Labor Day weekend. I was very happy to get to play Balderdash, my favorite game, TWICE. Great laughter over hilarious definitions ensued. :-D

Today? Well, I seem to be especially feeling the heat of the battle ... oppression in discouraging thoughts that suddenly just come upon me, in some ways without rhyme or reason? But ... God WINS. Praise God for that!

And yesterday we got a very encouraging report concerning my dad. He can definitely still use a lot of prayer ... but we are so grateful for the good report. I have been learning through this whole experience that God gives you the grace you need for each day ... His strength to get through each day. I won't lie, there are plenty of times where it sure FEELS like there is more pressing upon me than I can bear ... but HE is abundantly faithful and good whether I always "feel" that way or not.

Oh Lord Jesus ... may I sense Your presence always ... and may my life be a fragrant offering to You, a vibrant testimony to Your abundant faithfulness. Help me, dear Jesus, I pray. I love you, Jesus.

P.S. I close with a quote from Randy Alcorn's Heaven that ministered to me today ...
"To look into God's eyes will be to see what we've always longed to see: the person who made us and for whom were were made. And we will see him in the place he made for us, and for which we were made. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time. We will discover that seeing God is our greatest joy, and life itself."