True Contentment

Contentment is possible only as we cultivate and maintain the attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the hand of him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of his children a needless tear.

～A.W. Pink

A True Christian

"A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within."

~J.C. Ryle, Holiness

I'm a wee bit frustrated because I was *this* close to being finished with my blog post for Five Things Friday when somehow it all disappeared.  Sigh.  It's after 2am here, so I'm going to call it a night.  I am leaving for your reading pleasure a quote that I read recently and liked.  If you're unclear on what is means, drop me an email and I'll share my take on it.

In the meanwhile, I'm thankful that I have a computer (even if it doesn't always cooperate). I'm thankful for electricity.  I thankful for the can of peanuts by my bed.  I'm thankful for A/C in this hot climate.  I'm thankful for a very good day filled with friends.  I'm thankful for Pastor Dave's teaching on the 46th Psalm.  I'm thankful that my Lord is my refuge and my strength.  I'm thankful for Martin Luther's hymn.  I'm thankful for Carmen's presence in the body of Christ.  I'm thankful for old friends and for new friends.  I'm thankful that you take the time to read my blog.  I'm thankful for all of the amazing thinkers out there whose words have shaped my life thus far.  I am thankful for those who love me in spirit and truth.  I'm thankful for the conviction I feel in my heart.  I'm thankful that I am already forgiven for everything I have done and will do.  I'm thankful that there is nothing I can do that will make God love me more or love me less.  I'm thankful for Jesus Christ who lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died so that I might have fellowship with Him.  I am thankful for the Bible-- the most beautiful and spellbinding book I know.

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.

Things I'm Thankful For

I missed last week, so this week I'm giving you ten things I'm thankful for.

This week I'm thankful for:

1. A Violin and a Violin-playing Friend.  When I came to Dubai, I decided to leave my beloved violin behind.  After all, I was only coming for two months (which have now drawn into four), and I needed to use my carry on for a suitcase since after all two months is a long-ish time.  I was thankful when I spied a viola in the room that I'm renting, and I've enjoyed playing that, but it's not really 'my' instrument; I can't read the alto clef very well, and the size of the viola causes my elbow and shoulder to ache.  However, when I discovered my new friend, Danielle, was a (lapsed) professional violinist, the search was on for a violin.  Thankfully, through the magic of Facebook, I now have a violin in my possession, and the two of us plan on getting together this week to play duets. I'm SO excited.

2. Keren's Parents.  Keren is my awesome Panamanian friend, and this week her awesome Panamanian parents are in Dubai visiting.  On Friday after church a few of us went out to eat.  We got to hear Mama and Papa Williams tell their story of how they met (it was so sweet!) and afterwards Señor Williams, a pastor, asked if he could pray for each of the girls that we would find our husbands.  It was such a lovely prayer and I felt exceedingly blessed.

3. Words of Encouragement.  I also feel really blessed when people encourage me with scripture.  Last night my friend Krishan reminded me, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," (Psalm 139:14) and today I received a lovely email from a new blog reader who says she's praying for me (thank you so much!) and gave me this verse to meditate on: "About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders."  I love both of these verses and they're great reminders of the truth.

4. The Circle of Life.  I find an odd comfort in life events.  I can't explain it, but as (my) life marches forward, and I have to say goodbye to those who are dear to me, marriages and births encourage me and remind me that life goes on and that there's more ahead.  They are the whispers of a promise-- a promise that one day I will be made new and shall partake in a magnificent wedding ceremony with the God that made me and knows me in my entirety.  Last weekend we surprised Danielle (my violinist friend) with a baby shower and this weekend we threw a bridal shower for Rachel.  It also feels pretty great to be able to bless these ladies with friendship and gifts as they enter into these new phases of life.

5. Discipleship.  For the past few weeks I've been meeting with a woman from my church here in Dubai to discuss how God is working in my life and to examine how God changes people from sinful self-lovers to humble image-bearers.  It's a great work, and a journey that I'm seemingly at the start of (although in truth I know he has been refining me for a long time already).  Leeann and the other godly men and women that God has placed in my life are part of that refining process, and I'm thankful for their admonition, accountability, and encouragement.

6. Work. I am thankful for work-- always thankful that God continues to bless me with work so that I'm not constantly worrying about how I will eat or live.  I realize that even if He didn't give me work that I should not worry because He promises to take care of me.  But, I am really really thankful that I'm working.

7. 1 Samuel.  This week at church we took a break from our series on the book of Ruth to hear a sermon on 1 Samuel 1.  (Our pastor was out of town this week, hence the break from Ruth).  Only a couple of days ago I was reading a blog by a woman who is going through infertility treatments and having a hard time conceiving.  She felt it was her duty to warn women of the dangers of waiting too long to have children.  Sigh.  I read that and even though I already know this stuff, it nigh gave me a panic attack.  There, you see, even when I don't have much to worry about, I find ways to waste my time worrying about things which I have no control over (which, come to think of it, is most things).  So, there on the verge of a meltdown over whether I'll ever get married and will ever have children, I remembered Hannah (and Sarah and Rachel and Leah and Mary...) and how God opened her womb and I remembered that with God anything is possible.  Of course, that doesn't mean He will give me a husband and children, but it does mean that if it's His will, it will happen and without my own striving and contriving.

8. My Emotional Health.  When I first arrived in Dubai in early March, I felt a bit like I'd been chewed up and spit out.  I was not in a good place emotionally.  A couple of days ago, I was home alone after a full day of being largely alone, and instead of feeling sad like I hitherto would have done, I noticed that I was content.  I did some Pilates, went for a swim, played my violin, and read.  It was lovely evening.  It then occurred to me how far I've come.  The following day a lady at church who had first met me the week I arrived commented that I'm a different person now than I was then.  She's not the first to have noticed a difference.  I am thankful that God heard my cries of distress and that he brought me here to this place of healing and recovery.

9. Unexpected Blessings and Gentle Reminders.  Last week I received my first paycheck and included in it was about $1000 from a job done in 2009.  Instead of being thankful, the first instinct of my hardened heart was to be annoyed and put out that these people have held onto my money all of these years without paying me and letting me know about it.  However, after telling the story to my friend, Romana, she gently chided me and reminded me that I should be thankful for this unexpected bounty.  She's absolutely right, of course.  I am thankful for the extra cash, and am even more thankful for her and her reminders to examine my sinful heart.  (She often challenges me, and in the moment, I get defensive and argumentative.  Afterwards though, when I reflect on what she's said, I can see that she's absolutely right and I count it as a blessing to have such a friend who is willing to speak hard truths to me.)

10. Self-discipline.  It's not something I usually have in great quantity, but lately I seem to be on a roll.  I think I've made up my bed every single day I've been here (which probably means I've made my bed here more times than I have in my entire life before this) and I've been really on top of the exercise thing.  It may seem little, but I feel pretty good about it.  I've read that self-discipline is like a muscle-- it can be strengthened, and used over time and can become fatigued and stop working until it recovers.  I'm not sure what's going on with me these days, but it does feel like my self-discipline has grown a little stronger, and for that I am thankful.

One more thing I'm thankful for-- Friends! Carmen, Keren, Rahel, Stacy, Lays, and me

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be.

~paraphrase of quote from former slave trader and lyricist of Amazing Grace, John Newton

Here are five things I'm thankful for this week:

1. Sanctification.  Philippians 1:6 says, "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you wil bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  At this very moment, God is at work sanctifying me-- he making me over in His image, transforming me from the inside out.  It's often a painful process as I come face to face with my sin and how it manifests itself in my life, but I'm encouraged too, because God promises that He will change me, and that the end result will be so much better than anything I could possibly imagine.  I can trust that He will do as He's promised, which gives me the strength to persevere.

2. God's Providence.  Theologian and professor D.A. Carson writes, "I do think, though, that it is one of the common features of those who become intimate with Jesus that they think of themselves not as those who love him particularly well those who are particularly well loved by him.  Thus, John, the writer of this Gospel, refers to himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved.'"  I wouldn't say that I'm near as confident as John was when he called himself that, but I do feel loved by Jesus.  Ultimately, his love for me is demonstrated by his dying to save me, but I also feel loved by the food he places in my hands, the clothes he places on my back, the shelter he builds over my head, and the friends he blesses me with.  Specifically, I'm thankful that I'm working and making money; I'm thankful to live with the Parks family; I'm thankful for my friends at United Christian Church of Dubai and Redeemer Church of Dubai.  I'm thankful to be sandwiched between two households of people who love God and strive to honor him.  I'm thankful that God has me here at this moment in time for his purposes.

3. People who Speak Truth into my Life.  I'm thankful for the friends I have who love me enough to call me on my sin when they see it.  They see my pride and my unrepentant heart and they lovingly confront me about it.  They also correct the lies that I preach to myself by injecting the truth into my life.  When I am tempted to despair, they remind me of God's faithfulness.  This week, those people were Brinton, Mack and Leeann, Romana, and Krishan.  I'm thankful that they challenge me and help me along the path of sanctification (see #1).

4. The Service of Men in the Church.  Today at church we took communion (which I'm also thankful for-- what a blessing it is to receive that sacrament).  The elders and deacons of the church (all men) gathered at the front of the church to collect the bread and grape juice so that they could distribute it to our sizable congregation.  It just so worked out that on the aisle where I was sitting that the trays were passed by Brian Parks and Mack Stiles.  I've had the honor of staying with both the Parks and Stiles families during my times in Dubai, and I've been blessed beyond measure by these Godly men.  They've housed me, fed me, discipled me, and loved me.  I've seen them love their wives and their children and it has been a powerful experience.  Watching them serve the church by distributing the elements that represent Jesus's body and blood brought tears to my eyes.  Brian and Mack represent many godly men both at this church and at other churches worldwide-- men who strive to follow Paul's injunction, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself of for her."  Their example, as well as the other godly men that God has placed in my life, is an inspiration.  I thank God for them and pray that He continues to bless and sustain them.

5. Nature.  Again this week I was blown away by the rugged beauty of this region.  On Monday, I flew to Amman, Jordan for a shoot, and on Tuesday, I did another dhow cruise in Musandam, Oman.  I saw mountains and goats and blue skies and fish and various gulfs and rolling fields.  It is a delight unto my eyes and I am thankful for my creator God who delights in such beauty. 

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

"I pray because I can't help myself.  I pray because I'm helpless.  I pray because the need flows out of me all the time-- waking and sleeping.  It doesn't change God... it changes me."

~C.S. Lewis

This week I'm thankful for:

1. Reminders of What's Important.  A friend from back home chided me about my own inward-focused self, or less flatteringly, my selfishness.  At a class in church this morning, we discussed a book called When People are Big and God is Small which focuses on this very thing.  Specifically, we talked about how we can grow to "Need other people less and love other people more.  Out of obedience to Christ, and as a response to his love toward you, pursue others in love."  Sometimes I think I'm the most selfish person I know.  I'm thankful that there are people in my life who love me enough to tell me the truth about myself, and I'm thankful that I have God who is ceaselessly refining me in order to make me more like Himself.  I'm also thankful that he continues to open my eyes to my sin so that I can confess it and repent.

2. Prayer.  Of late, God has increasingly been showing me the power of prayer in changing my own heart and attitudes.  I am often malcontent and my heart is envious and angry and lustful.  I struggle with all these sins.  And yet, I am learning that when I go before God with my hard heart and confess to Him, he changes me.  I can't explain the transformation, but a gentleness and softness appears in that place where its very opposite stood before.  I'm thankful for the power of prayer to change the attitudes of my heart.

3. My Brothers in Christ.  Tonight I got to spend the evening in the company of three fellows who all love God.  We had a picnic by the sea as the sun set, and our conversation was entirely edifying.  I'm thankful for the example they set in their servitude to the Lord and their desire to honor Him.  I'm thankful for their love towards others and their humility.  I pray that He will sustain them, go before them, and lead them in the paths of righteousness.

4. Birds.  I don't why but I've been noticing the birds lately-- they keep crossing my path.  This afternoon I noticed beautiful green tropical-looking birds adorning my neighbor's home and then tonight at the beach I watched a trio scamper across the wet sand.  All week long they've popped up in my field of view as little gifts of nature.

5. God's Provision in My Life. I sometimes sight of this fact, but at this very moment, God has me exactly where He wants me.  I am blessed beyond measure to have a roof over my head, food in my belly, the promise of future paychecks, a church that preaches the Gospel, a Christian family to live with who model the Gospel, and people who love me and pray for me.  Selfish sinner that I am, I often lose sight of these facts, but God continues to lead home on the path the leads to Him; he clothes me and feeds me.  I am blessed beyond measure. 

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

This week I'm thankful for the simple things:

1. I'm thankful that my parents thought learning to swim was an important skill.  I say this because 1. Swimming is one of the chief joys of my life and 2. I think the ability to swim is something that most people who can do it take for granted.  True story: There are lots of nationalities that don't place much importance on learning to swim.  One Indian friend went to the US and ended up at a summer camp where kids were confidently jumping off a pier and swimming in the mountain lake.  Said friend, seeing how easy swimming appeared to be, dived into the frigid waters, and immediately plunged like a rock to the bottom.  Luckily, a lifeguard was on duty to drag him to safety.  Swimming is not something one just knows how to do.  Thank you M & D for taking me to weekly lessons at the YWCA.  I never made it above guppy level, but that's good enough for me.

2.  I'm thankful for my sense of smell.  Dubai is a panoply of smells.  Some are not so pleasant (the dumpsters that seemingly grace every street) while others are quite heavenly (the occasional scent of jasmine that wafts through the air.). Life is meant to be smelled (and touched and seen and tasted).

3.  I'm thankful for being busy.  Work has really been good lately which is great because I generally really enjoy working, presumably it means I'm making money (can't say for sure until I actually get paid), and because it keeps me occupied so that I stay in the moment and don't dwell on things that make me sad (as I am wont to do).

4.  I'm thankful for technology.  My iPad is just about my favorite-ist thing ever.  I use it to message people back home, navigate my way around Dubai, read my Bible, listen to NPR, learn German, memorize poetry... the list goes on and on.  I also love watching movies on my laptop, and using gmail chat to talk to loved ones back home.  I'm thankful for my camera which helps me capture my memories... I'm thankful for it all.  It's made traveling (and keeping in touch) much easier since the days when I first set off by myself for foreign climes in 2003.

5.  I'm thankful for my parents and their commitment to another.  This week my parents celebrated 42 years of marriage together!  I'm proud of them and thankful to have been able to grow up in a stable home with parents who stuck it out for the long haul.  Happy Anniversary, M & D!  Here's to many more!

Now and Then: My Parents

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

A few of the things I'm thankful for this week are:

1.  The Weather.  It's been overcast and even a little rainy (which is rare for this region) which has made getting around town and being outside an utter delight.  Shockingly, I've heard English friends complaining about it (it's too much like back home for them), but the alternative is a blazing hot sun accompanied by humidity.  I'll take the the clouds any day.

2.  The Psalms.  We've been studying a new Psalm each week in our small group in preparation for the week's sermon at church.  This week we studied Psalm 73 which deals with being envious of those around us who seem to prosper in spite of wickedness, or perhaps even because of it.  Asaph, the writer of the Psalm, is frustrated by these

3.  The Journey.  It sounds a bit cliche to say, but I'm increasingly thinking of life in terms of walking down a path in a particular direction.  Sometimes I get off the path, or make the wrong turn, or even just stop dead in my tracks, but always I return, or rather, God graciously brings me back.  The Bible often refers to our journey through life as a matter of choosing a path.  (Proverbs 4:14-15 says "Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.  Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on."). What's neat is that I'm at a stage in my life where I can look and reflect upon where I've come from.  I can see how God has been working in my life and how he continues to work.

4.  New Revelations.  My favorite verse in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 12:9.  'My grace is sufficient is for you...' was a verse that spoke to me when I was trying really hard to please God so that I could earn His love.  I thought I needed to be perfect- always praying, living an exemplary life, devotedly reading my Bible, and so and on, but that striving left me feeling exhausted (not to mention filled with an abominable self-righteousness) and, in spite of it all, I felt hopelessly distant from God.  God spoke those words to me, and what I understood with that simple statement of His grace being sufficient was something along the lines of, "Elise, I lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died."  Or, as succinctly put in the verse of the old hymn, "Cast your deadly 'doing' down/ Down at Jesus' feet;/ Stand in Him, in Him alone,/ Gloriously complete."  My strivings were all for naught, but Christ's death is God's grace.  So, 'grace' meant salvation.  Now, 2 Corinthians 12:9 has taken on a new meaning or me.  Lately my struggle has been in not being satisfied in just God and again His answer is 'My grace is sufficient for you.'  It's a powerful revelation-- He is all I need.  This time, grace means that God fulfills all of my needs. He is enough.

5.  Dolphins.  One of the highlights of the week was getting to play with dolphins for a shoot.  They were amazing-- I decided they were the dogs of the sea.  They're so playful and silly and eager to please.  I'm a very lucky girl.

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

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This week I'm Thankful For:

1. Burgeoning Friendships.  It's been a a fun week growing deeper in my relationships with the other girls from my church.  Over the weekend, we gathered on the beach for sunset, and I ended up staying until after midnight bonding with one of the girls over are shared love of a certain photographer.  I also played a card game at another girl's house, and as we roll into another weekend, I look forward to more time spent with my new friends.

2. The Blue Sky.  As I swam my laps in the pool behind our villa, I looked up at the blue sky and felt blessed.  It's a beautiful world we live in and I am lucky to be in it.  I'm thankful for the nature that surrounds me and it's tie to something much bigger than myself.

3. Learning My Way. This seems like a silly thing to be thankful for, but I'm thankful that I'm figuring out how to get around in this town.  I don't have a car, the metro is inconveniently located in regards to my location, and taxis are just too darn expensive, so I've resorted to taking city busses to get around everywhere.  It's been neat because it shows me a different side of Dubai.  The busses wind down roads that are unfamiliar to me, and I'm joined in my travels by mostly poorer residents of Dubai, namely, the immigrant workers.  It provides me with a different perspective on life in this town, and I'm thankful for it.

4. Work. I am ostensibly here to work, and well, a girl does need to eat to live, and so I'm thankful when it comes my way.  I did one fashion show this week at the Dubai Mall, but I'm gearing up for a week of straight bookings (so many so that I've had to turn two down!) next week.  I still haven't gotten paid for anything I've done so far, but I think it's accumulating somewhere, so hopefully it'll be making it's way to my bank account some time soon.

5. Solitude. I'm getting lots and lots of time to myself.  Copious amounts of solitude.  Usually this makes me depressed, as I begin to long for human companionship, but today I realized that I should be thankful for this time as it gives me a chance to reflect and it's something that I won't always have. 

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.

5 Things I'm Thankful For Friday

This week I'm thankful for:

1. Easter Sunday service on the week. I'm far from home, but still got to spend Easter with family (my Church family). We gathered at sunrise, sang worship songs, and listened to a sermon about Jesus's resurrection. We also heard a couple of people give their testimony, and afterwards they were baptized in the Arabian Gulf. It was pretty powerful. After the service, we broke bread together and had a picnic on the beach.

2. Generous friends. I am always humbled by the generosity of others, and this week I've been on the receiving end of several acts of generosity. Multiple friends have treated me to meals, I've been given rides, people have texted me to check in on me... It's been great and I hope that someday soon I'm in the position to repay such generosity.

3. Work. I managed to snag a couple of jobs this week- one I posted pictures from- and the other was for a website. I am firmly convinced that God brought me here for other purposes than work, but, I do still need to make a living.

4. Lingering and languorous Fridays. Friday might just be my favorite day of the week here. Weekends in the Middle East are Fridays and Saturdays and Fridays are the holy days so we have church on Friday mornings. It's a great way to kick off the weekend. After church (and 'Friday' school where I'm learning about church history), a group of us go out for lunch, which gives way to late afternoons in coffee shops. It's not uncommon for me to get home from 'church' after midnight on Friday, having spent the whole day in fellowship with my Christian friends. I truly treasure these days.

5. The right to gather as Christians and have services and Bible studies. I don't take it for granted that here in the Middle East I'm allowed to own a Bible, pray in public, and attend religious services. It's a privilege that is not afforded to all Christians throughout he world, and many continue to meet even when it's not safe to do so. I'm thankful that it's not a daily reality here, although that might change one day.

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

Yea, once Immanuel’s orphaned cry His universe hath shaken--
It went up single, echoless: ‘My God, I am forsaken!’ 

It went up from the Holy’s lips, amid His lost creation,
That of the lost, no son should use those words of desolation!”

~ excerpt, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Cowper's Grave

This week I'm thankful for:

1. Jesus dying on the cross.  Today Christians around the world are celebrating Good Friday.  We call it Good Friday because it is the day we celebrate Jesus dying on the cross.  Ironic isn't it?  That we celebrate the dying of a man we call our Savior and we call it good.  "Why is it good?" you ask.  It's because on the first Good Friday the holy God died to rescue people whose hearts were and are wicked.  Without his atoning death, I could not be reconciled to a holy God, whose very holiness demands justice.  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

2. Two worship services this week.  In the Middle East, Friday is the holy day, and so church meets on Friday rather Sunday (which is the first day of the work week).  (P.S. It's really hard for me not to call Friday School Sunday School.)  So, we had our usual Friday gathering today- yay! and on Sunday morning at 5:30am (before the work day starts) we will gather on the beach for an Easter sunrise service.  This week I seem to be doubly blessed.

3. Christian community.  After church today, about 20 of us went out to lunch after church, and some of us lingered until 9pm.  After leaving that group, I joined other Christian friends.  And encouragingly, our conversation was peppered with what the Lord has done in our lives and how good He is.  I find it ironic that I come from a so-called Christian nation, and I have to travel to the Middle East to find the most vibrant Christian community I have ever known.  I love them, and I feel loved by them.

4. The conviction that God has plans for me.  Being in Dubai has been a bit of struggle financially because I'm finding that the work environment has changed a lot since last I was here.  So far, this venture in my coming here has lost me money.  And yet, I do not despair, because I am convinced that He has me here for other purposes than my job.  God has brought me here to bring me back to Him and to bring me into Christian fellowship.  (This makes sense, as well, when I think how my prayers over the last months have always been, "Lord, draw me closer to You.")  For this, I thank Him.

5. The two families I am surrounded by.  I said this last week, but it bears repeating.  I.Am.So.Thankful that in God's infinite mercy he has placed me exactly where I am.  Years ago, when I was alone in Dubai, an American man said to me, "We are your family in the Middle East.  Rely on us shamelessly."  Surprisingly, because I come from a world where people don't mean what they say and don't say what they mean, he meant it.  I can't for the life of me understand why complete strangers love me, but I am deeply touched and moved beyond words.  It is this love that points to a God that I also can't understand why He loves me, but I humbled and am thankful.  "The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the Lord loved you."   Deuteronomy 7:7-8

Do you know what He has done for you?  Do you know how much God loves you and desires for you to be close to Him?  I pray that you would turn away from the things which take you away from Him, and turn to the living God.  He is so beautiful, and He desires for you to know Him.  Turn away from your sin and be reconciled to God.  He is incredible, full of majesty and beauty.

Soli Deo Gloria

Five Things I'm Thankful For Friday

It's been quite a while since I've done one of these, but here goes...

This week I'm thankful: 

1. That God has me exactly where he wants me.  If you're wondering where that is (it's been a while since I checked in on here), I'm in the Middle East right now, staying with an amazing God-fearing (read God-loving) Christian family.  I'm in Dubai (see the map below) in the United Arab Emirates.  I am so blessed to be here.

Dubai

2. For random friends.  Do you remember when you were a kid and you'd meet another kid and in seconds you were fast friends?  It was magical, wasn't it?  Well, in my line of work, I'm often thrown into foreign worlds (hence Dubai) where I'm largely alone and on my own, and I meet other people in the same situation.  That sort of situation creates the perfect circumstances for that sort of childhood friendship to form.  Last night, new friend, Victoria, and I went to Bastakiya to wander around the narrow passageways of merchants selling their goods.  We had a blast and it was like we'd been friends for years.  (I had the added treat of getting to chat with her in German-- she's from Dusseldorf-- while we bargained with the shopkeepers.)

left to right: shoe shopping in Bastakiya, the shopkeeper, and narrow passageways in the old town

3. For my church community here.  Ever since I first set foot in this country in 2007, I have been blessed by the Christians that I've found in this city.  They have sheltered me, fed me, encouraged me, loved me, instructed me... the list goes on and on.  It's amazing to loved and cared for in the way that I do.

Some of the women from my church after Women and the Word, a class on reading the Bible

4. For the family that I'm staying with here.  It's wonderful to see what loving and serving one another looks like.  I love being welcomed in this home-- seeing the father read his Bible at the kitchen table, and his daughters respecting him, and the mother as she makes the house a home.

5. For my next door neighbors.  Our back door leads to a courtyard which is shared with the neighbors, and it's not uncommon for them or us to wander through each other's back doors.  And like my family here, they've also taken in a few "strays."  Tonight I came home to find one of them (a person, not a pet) settled in on our couch watching tv.  It's very communal, and I like it a lot.  The neighbors, by the way, are also an amazing family who love God, each other, and the people around them.  I'd say I'm doubly blessed to be engulfed by two such families.

One Blade of Grass

"There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice." 

~John Calvin