Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

This week I'm thankful for:

1. Praying Friends.  Thank you to my friends who remember me in their prayers.  And thank you to the mighty God who hears those prayers, prays on my behalf (Romans 8:26), and answers those prayers for my good and His glory.  God be praised!

2. Reminders of God's Faithfulness.  The biggest reminder I get is when people call me to remember.  They point me to scripture and answered prayers to remind me how good He is.  Moreover, I'm reminded of his faithfulness when I begin to count my blessings.  I have my parents and siblings, dear friends, a roof over my head, money in my pocket, food in my belly, brothers and sisters in Christ, an amazing Gospel-focused church, people praying and caring for me, a library of books to read, readers of my blog, internet connection and contact with the outside world, many gifts, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit... the list goes on and on.  He loves me and He is faithful.

3. TGIF.  Fridays are my favorite day of the week, and not for the reason you may suspect.  Here in the Middle East, the weekend is comprised of Friday and Saturday, with Friday being the holy day when religious services are held.  I eagerly look forward to Friday mornings when Redeemer Church of Dubai meets.  I love our time of worship as well as the sermon that is preached each week.  After church, sometimes as many as thirty of us go out to eat, and our day together turns into evening.  I'm thankful for my church and for this day when the saints convene.

4. INFPs.  If you're not familiar the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test don't know what I'm talking about, but basically it's one of sixteen personality types.  I happen to be one, and lately it seems God has been putting a lot of INFPs into my life, which is really fun, because we seem to click really well with each other.  I feel like we 'get' each other and we can talk for hours about many different things.

5. A Violin-playing Friend.  This week and last I was able to get together and play violin with another girl here in Dubai.  We seem to spend as much time talking as playing, but boy is it fun.  She's a professional violinist and a private teacher, which makes me feel majorly inferior, but she's humble and encouraging and sweet.  We played Bartok's Duos for Two Violins and Bach's Concerto for Two Violins.  It's wonderful-- classical music just thrills my soul to listen to and play.  I'm thankful for our burgeoning friendship and for a friend to play music with.

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

~Psalm 19:1

This week I'm thankful for:

Beautiful Oman

1. Creation.  It's an incredible world that we live in-- creation just astounds me.  Last weekend my friends and I camped out on a beach Musandam, Oman.  We laid on a mat and gazed at the stars while the strains of cheesy pop songs from the next camp over invaded our silence.  Above me was a crescent moon accompanied by the big dipper-- the only constellation I can pick out, and the soft lapping of the waves on the shore.  The next day, we donned masks and snorkels and explored the blue waters of the Persian Gulf.  Incredibly, below the water's surface was a living world-- beautiful technicolor fish, the likes of which I've only seen behind glass.  Wow, how great is our God!

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hand hath made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

2. Faith.  At church this morning, while singing praises to God, I stopped and thought about how thankful I am that He is real to me.  It is inconceivable to me to imagine a world without God.  (This is not to say that I'm a super Christian-- I doubt, I don't always trust Him, I stray-- one line from a favorite hymn which I've always identified with goes "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.")  I know what it's like to want to believe, but to not be quite able to.  It's a terrible place to be, and when I felt that way, my prayer always echoed the exclamation of the poor father in Mark whose son was demon possessed: "I believe; help my unbelief!"  Belief in God is a supernatural event-- I recognize that my belief in Him stems completely and only from Him-- I can truly say that he opened my eyes.  I am thankful for this gift of faith, because it is what sustains me and leads me to life.  Dum Spiro Spero.

3. Goldengrams.  Four years ago today, my grandma departed this world and flew to her Father's arms.  I had an incredibly close bond with her-- she is perhaps the only human I've ever known whose love I could trust in-- I had no doubt that she loved and cherished me and that love inspired me, gave me confidence.  That unwavering love of hers and the bond it created was a wondrous gift.  I loved her with my whole heart and I'm thankful for the woman that she was: her faith, her devotion to her family, the daughter she raised that became my mom, her selflessness... She was an amazing woman.  Her absence her and her presence there is just one more treasure I expect to find in heaven.

When the Lord takes a child, there is one less cord to fasten you to this world and another band to draw you toward heaven... Happy is the trouble that loosens our grip of heaven.  From Beside Still Waters by Charles Spurgeon

4. Work.  After a slow first month working in Dubai, work seems to be steadily picking up.  Last week was great, and I ended up turning down four jobs this week due to being already booked for another week-long job (one of the declined jobs was for the Atlantis Hotel and involved swimming with dolphins, another was in Jordan, another in Qatar, and the last in Bahrain.  I would have had a blast doing these jobs-- or at least would have enjoyed seeing these new places-- but I'm thankful that I'm working and I hope this bodes well for future bookings).

This picture of me as a child gives you an idea of why I'm so thankful those spindly things support me! 

5. Legs.  In the last few months I've tried to make it a practice to stop and be thankful for the little things-- the gifts that God gives me throughout the day.  This seems silly, I guess, but this week as I power walked from my house to the bus stop, I thanked God for my legs, and by extension, my health. Temperatures here in the Middle East have already hit 100F/37C and I'm sometimes out under the direct sun for quite a bit of time.  I'm thankful that I'm well, and that these toothpicks I call legs are able to support me and transport me wherever I need to go.

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

~Mr. Beaver responding to Lucy's question as to whether Aslan is safe in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 

This week I'm thankful for:

1. Prayer.  Life isn't always so rosy, but I have a whole host of people praying for me (as well at the Holy Spirit-- Romans 8:26) which is a great comfort.  I've also heard it said that we do not pray to change God, but to change ourselves, and I can definitely see this in my own life as I see the perspective of my heart changing after time in prayer.  Keep it up, friends-- I'll take all the prayers you care to send my way!  (If you're reading this now, won't you stop and say a prayer for me?)

2. Women.  It's been a girly sort of week.  Our head of household is out of town this week (he's in the US for a conference), so it's just us girls around the villa (unless you count Winston, the dachshund).  On Monday night, instead of our regular small group, just the women got together to eat salad and pray for one another.  It was a wonderful time of sharing and comfort.  I also flew to Kuwait with two lovely women (whom I just met, but with whom I am now tentatively planning a trip to Kerala, India), and just today passed the afternoon and evening in the company of three lovely ladies.  Female companionship is wonderful, and I'm blessed to have found it here.

3. Work.  One of the perks of my job is getting to travel to new places.  This week, I went to Kuwait City to help open the flagship Tiffany and Co at the Avenues Mall.  I am thankful for the work, the travel, and the lovely people I met along the way. 

That's me on the far left!

4. Being Fed. When I thought of this, I was thinking of the joys of getting to eat-- and especially for free (money's tight these days, but I got fed on my jobs this week, and friends have treated me as well).  I'm am thankful for the little things-- having a full tummy, a bed to sleep in, and a roof over my head.  But, after typing this, I realized that I'm being fed spiritually, too.  Earlier in the week, I watched the Together for the Gospel Conference live on the web as friends of mine spoke in Orlando, Florida.  I've also been more diligent about reading my Bible and praying, and it feels good to be growing in my love for and knowledge of God.

5. God's Grace. It's usually only in hindsight that I can see God working in my life-- how he cares for me, and how he spares me from things.  Once again, I am humbled by His grace and goodness.  Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; 'tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home (John Newton, 1725-1807).

I just watched this 2-minute testimony from last year's Together for the Gospel Conference and found it encouraging.  I hope you do, too.  I think the talks from this year's conference should be up on the Together for the Gospel website soon.  I'm looking forward to hearing Tim Keller's talk as well as those of some of the other speakers.