We've continued to be humbled by the little things of being
newbies here and God's provision for us, almost daily, as we learn. Just
yesterday I managed to lock our whole
family out of the house we are house sitting because the locks here are
different and a key won't work in the door if there are keys in the lock on the
other side. When I realized we were all
locked out, I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of
your faith produces patience." James 1:2-3
Matt was in class so Anya, Nora and I, wandered to campus
and were able to eat lunch there while he came back to attempt entry. Amazingly, although I had shut all the
windows up tight because it had looked like rain, he had noticed one a few days
before with a faulty latch. With the
help of a neighbor, who we had helped a days before loading something into his
car, Matt was able to get in and was eating lunch as I was praying on the way
home that we would be able to get in without breaking anything, and he fixed
the latch too! We all rejoiced ,were
reminded of the blessing of eating with the Tyndale students again, and stayed
"home" the rest of the day!
Swimming in the canal!! |
Today, the girls and I ventured out again, on our bikes to
the more predominantly Muslim part of town to do our grocery shopping. They have better fruits and veggies at better
prices and huge tubs of OLIVES. Anya and I love olives. Anyway, it began to
rain and the ride was long and we were pooped.
About a 1/4 mile from home, the rain had stopped and Nora looked over
and saw ripe, wild blackberries on the side of the bike path. YUM.
We picked enough to add to the other fruit to have quite a gourmet fruit
plate for desert, and there are plenty more that will ripen with time!
Nora commented that she thought God was rewarding our
perseverance! :)
"I will teach
you and guide you in the way you should go, I will keep you under my eye."
Psalms 32:8
I could go on but will spare you other examples, (unless you
want more) but it got me thinking about how parents love their kids so much and
often go and above and beyond what is even reasonable to their children, just
to show their love. I'm feeling like
that now. That God knows that being away
from home is not easy, for the girls or for Matt and I, and somehow He is going
to go above an beyond in the little things (and not so little things) to show
us His love and give us the confidence that we are in fact, under His eye.
Thanks God, I needed that!