Wow

Can I just say God is amazing? I have been thinking a lot lately about His plan. In the past I have thought about it but never really kept my thoughts there. And now that I have been, let me just say I am falling even more in love with our Creator! I always knew He had a plan for me and for others, but the more I think of it, the more it amazes me. He weaves all of our lives and His plans for each and every one of us into a perfect picture. There are no glitches. He doesn't give me a great plan and then have no way to have a great plan for someone else. And our lives, our plans interweave perfectly. Sometimes it's easy to look at someone else's life and God's plan for them and be jealous or angry and think that God forgot about you, but He totally never did. Your plan still is perfect. His plan for me, despite my imperfections and my weaknesses, is perfect. I am so excited to see how His plan unfolds in my life. Sometimes the road is hard and steeped with sorrow, but God is still there and He is still good. And His timing is never wrong. Sometimes I am tempted to think "Why didn't this happen earlier?" or "Can't it just wait a little while?" But no. That's not His plan for me. That's not what He has in store. Wow. I am swept off my feet by our amazing and faithful God. May I fall more in love with Him each and every day! May I rejoice in His plan for me even when the road is steep and my eyes are filled with tears. He is amazing!

Pictures, please!

It's been forever and a day since I posted pictures. Sorry! And I just realized that my mom was here for a week and we NEVER took a picture together! Uggh! I guess she is going to have to come back :).

At one of their birthday parties. Cute girls!

LOVE her! And she is not even the model, but looks like one here!

This big smile is on her face most of the time--love it!

Spelling bee! My little one is on the left--first place out of first and second grades! I wish I had a video. She was so cute!

Okay, this one needs an explanation. We were on a horse ride at Family Day at school and were acting scared. Yes, Amanda and I are ridiculous. We know :)

This is at one of my girl's birthday parties. You can't really tell, but she lives overlooking the city. It might be one of the most beautiful parts of Santiago!
February 27th was Dominican Independence Day. The kids worked with the Spanish teachers to put on an awesome program! Here are most of my little Native Dominicans :)
My roommate's mom and dad came. She is a kinder teacher, so she came and read to us.
Love this! How many dodgeball balls can YOU carry at once?
Lately when they need to work on an answer as a team, some of the teams do this. So cute :)

Well, there's a little glimpse into my life in the past couple months. I will post some from the beach after I upload them. May you all experience His peace today!

Pleasing men

So a verse has been stuck in my head lately, and I need to get it stuck in my heart too. Man, do I ever need to! Those who know me know I really deal a lot with people pleasing. A lot a lot. A verse that has come up often in the past two years is Galatians 1:10.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Unfortunately, many times I still live in the "win the approval of men" thing. More often that I can count actually. But this verse hits me on the head. I need to win the approval of God if I call myself a servant of Christ! It's hard and the road is long, but we serve a good God who walks with me on every step of the journey. God, focus my heart on you!

I will trust you

Okay, so the plan is to post pictures soon. Hopefully this weekend. I did have tons of plans but I think all of them fell through, so I will have time to picture blog I hope. It's amazing what God does as we let him. The last few weeks have been really rough but it's amazing how much God teaches me about myself and about Him when I am in the valley. I love those mountains He gives us while struggling too. Sometimes they are just hills, but all the while He shows a little more of His face to us. The next few months are a huge time of transition for me. It's been really hard but so good at the same time. I stumbled on a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "I will trust you." His sorrow is much bigger than my own, but I really like especially the last part of the song.

God I’m longing for the day to come
When this cloudy glass I’m looking through
Is shattered in a million pieces
And finally I can just see You
God you know I believe its true
I know I will see you
But until the day I do

And I will trust you, I’ll trust you
Trust you God, I will
Even when I don’t understand
Even then I will say again
You are my God
And I will trust You

And with every breath I take
And for every day that breaks
I will trust you
I will trust you
and when nothing is making sense
Even then I will say again
God I trust You
I will trust You

I know your heart is good
I know your love is strong
I know your plans for me
Are much better than my own

So I will trust you, I’ll trust you
I trust you God, I will

Even when I can’t see the end

I love that we can trust Him because we know His heart is good, His love is strong, and His plans for me are so much better than my own. Wow. Every time I think of that it blows my mind. I have some pretty good plans for myself, or so I think. But God's are so much better. May I open my heart up to Him and to His ways. Even in the midst of health problems again or transition or so many other factors, I have so many things to be thankful for. We serve an amazing and faithful God! May you learn to love Him more and more!

Have Your Way

This song from Britt Nicole is my prayer right now. God is good even when life is hard. This expresses my feelings so perfectly.

Feels like I've been here forever,
Why can't you just intervene,
Do you see the tears keep falling?
And I'm falling apart at the seams,

But you never said the road would be easy,
But you said that you would never leave.
And you never promised that this life wasn't hard,
But you promised you'd take care of me.

So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape,
I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way, Just have your way,

When my friends and my family have left me
I feel so ashamed and so cold,
Remind you take broken things and turn them into beautiful

So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape,
I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way, Just have your way,

Even if my dreams have died,
Even if I don't survive,
I'll still worship you with all my life,
My life, yeah,

Woah, font change. God, may this be my cry, my prayer. Have your way!

Lessons from the Israelites

So I have been reading in Exodus lately. I never noticed that before Moses went up on the mountain, God allowed 70 leaders of the Israelites to meet with Him. They had the privilege of meeting with the Most High! And then just a little while later they freaked out when Moses left. This is when all the people told Aaron to make a golden calf. AFTER they had seen God. Wow. It made me think: how often do I do that? God shows me things all the time about how amazing He is, and I forget in the next few seconds sometimes. Wow. Lately I have been thinking a lot about His plan for me. So often I expect it to go one way, yet it goes the direct opposite. I sometimes wonder what God is doing, why things look that way. But them I am reminded over and over again (because I need it) that He is in control. My life has been changing drastically the last month or so and will continue to change. It's scary, and I sometimes wonder what God is doing. But I need to remember that He is in control. Even when I get scared like the Israelites did, I don't need to go building my own golden calf. He alone is enough! Praise be to Him!

Smiles

I love it when God does something that makes you smile. He totally knows what we need when we need it! A little background--we have new neighbors from Haiti that have a nine month old little girl. Lately she has been bringing her over and leaving her with us to play for an hour or so. Today I was talking to God about stuff and I prayed that she would bring the baby over. I went about my normal business and within fifteen minutes my doorbell rang! I got to play with the cutest baby in the whole world for awhile! The mom only speaks Creole and French, neither or which I can speak at all. Haha. But we smile and wave and laugh over her daughter. That's enough :).

God has been busy here. He has clearly directed me regarding next year. Email me if you want more info :). May you feel His love and presence today!