There is a plastic bag on my kitchen table containing lots of stuffed, addressed and stamped envelopes, soon to be sent to supporters. As I was adding up the cost of everything I would potentially need to buy in order to print and send these letters, I had to turn to a fund I had inadvertantly been creating since June. You see, all summer I saved my spare change. This was so successful that I kept that cash in a jar with a Brazil wristband covering it, and continued to save change during this school year. After a brief visit to Coinstar (which is a bit of a scam, I might add) I had collected nearly $80 in total. Surely this would be more than enough.
While buying a roll of 100 stampes today at the post office, you do the math on that one, I handed the cashier the last of my long-saved money. The total was $39 and I gave her $40. She handed me one dollar in return and I realized that after all the purchases I made so carefully and frugally, including ink cartridges, two different kinds of envelopes, card stock, and stamps, I had spent only one dollar less than what I had.
At that realization, I just had to laugh. God so carefully planned everything that He knew how much I would need and made sure to give me just that amount. There will be more costs in the future of course, but I trust those will be amply provided for in just the same way. He is good, He knows exactly what we need, and we give Him glory when we trust Him for those needs. It is my pleasure to continue to lean and rely on Him as the days and months go on and the dollar amounts will need to go up and up.
He is faithful and is glad to bless His dear children!!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Swimming with the current
I don't mean for this title to seem negative. So often we are told to "go against the grain" or "swim against the current." I think my dad has a t-shirt with tropical fish on the front of it and one is facing a different way from all the rest. There is obviously honor in this if you are swimming in the right direction. It's not always easy. But in my case, I have found that swimming in the blessed direction is often incredibly easy.
Let me clarify. It is not easy as in, "It is easy for me to read one of the Boxcar Children books." But it was easy for me to take this direction because it seemed that the moment I reached for something it was in front of my face. The consequences of my choice to spend the next year in Brazil may be realized when I find myself sweltering on a humid 90 degree day in January, in an office without air conditioning. It won't be easy when I miss my dog after only two weeks. It will be exceptionally hard when I come face to face with the realities of the corruption of the Brazilian government and the continued aftereffects of communism in that country. And, as may happen soon, I will wonder what I have been doing if I am denied a visa.
But in October, when OMS was still a twinkle in my future's eye, it was easy for me to see what God may have had in store for me. I was at work again, a place where God has used fellow Taylor alumni to speak into my life in ways they will never realize, when I called a young woman named Michelle. After a little discussion she casually mentioned spending a year in Mexico with OMS after her senior year at Taylor. I asked her to share more about that experience and she asked me if I was interested in working with them. I shared my story.
After I was finished explaining, in short, why I thought God was leading me southwards, she said, "That's interesting...you know, I really think the Lord is calling you to Brazil..." and went on to explain about two friends she had with OMS who are still working in Brazil after spending a year there like I wanted to do. She was trying to remember the name of the town they lived in when her husband began interrupting her. She apologized and said "oh...he's Brazilian."
Well that's convenient.
Needless to say, she encouraged me to contact OMS and ask for some information. I was convinced and filled out a contact form on their website that evening.
The next day I received an email from their head of recruitment saying he would be at Taylor the next week.
Let me clarify. It is not easy as in, "It is easy for me to read one of the Boxcar Children books." But it was easy for me to take this direction because it seemed that the moment I reached for something it was in front of my face. The consequences of my choice to spend the next year in Brazil may be realized when I find myself sweltering on a humid 90 degree day in January, in an office without air conditioning. It won't be easy when I miss my dog after only two weeks. It will be exceptionally hard when I come face to face with the realities of the corruption of the Brazilian government and the continued aftereffects of communism in that country. And, as may happen soon, I will wonder what I have been doing if I am denied a visa.
But in October, when OMS was still a twinkle in my future's eye, it was easy for me to see what God may have had in store for me. I was at work again, a place where God has used fellow Taylor alumni to speak into my life in ways they will never realize, when I called a young woman named Michelle. After a little discussion she casually mentioned spending a year in Mexico with OMS after her senior year at Taylor. I asked her to share more about that experience and she asked me if I was interested in working with them. I shared my story.
After I was finished explaining, in short, why I thought God was leading me southwards, she said, "That's interesting...you know, I really think the Lord is calling you to Brazil..." and went on to explain about two friends she had with OMS who are still working in Brazil after spending a year there like I wanted to do. She was trying to remember the name of the town they lived in when her husband began interrupting her. She apologized and said "oh...he's Brazilian."
Well that's convenient.
Needless to say, she encouraged me to contact OMS and ask for some information. I was convinced and filled out a contact form on their website that evening.
The next day I received an email from their head of recruitment saying he would be at Taylor the next week.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
A Peephole
Acts 13:47 “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
This verse has meant a lot to me since I first read it the summer of 2000 while on a mission trip in New Mexico. I didn’t know then that I would one day devote a year to mission work in Brazil.
After I came back from my first mission to Brazil in March of 2006, I had trouble readjusting to life in Upland, IN. I thought about it all the time and would get distracted by pictures on my screensaver, spending time scrolling through all the faces that represented my time at Lar Batista. Over the summer I drove into Chicago to buy some Guarana, a Brazilian soft drink, and barely drank any of it because the taste brought back such powerful memories.
One evening, September 20th, I wondered why I still felt so strongly about Brazil even though all signs pointed to me not going there anytime soon. I wrote this in my journal, “Sometimes I see pictures from Brazil flash on my screensaver and I just get so frustrated. Why do I have over 1,000 pictures of somewhere I stayed for less than 1 week??” I begged God for a glimpse of direction, wondering if my heart would ever find relief or if I should let go.
Just the next night I wrote this, “Tonight I was at work and on my second call I begged God they wouldn’t answer…but they did. Two questions into the conversation, he said to me, ‘Well, I was a missionary in Brazil for 40 years.’ In Londrina, Parana, about 300 miles west of Sao Paulo. Wow. My whole body just had a shot go through it and I knew God had orchestrated that. We talked more about Brazil and it was a great conversation. I told Janell that story and she said, ‘Wow, the Lord is doing something in your life, Christine…but he is being SO mysterious!’”
These verses in Isaiah spoke to me that night, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ‘As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’” Isaiah 55:6, 10-11
A few days later, on September 25th, I was listening to a Sarah Groves CD during my quiet time. Her song, “Painting Pictures of Egypt” expressed nearly exactly what I had been feeling. “The future feels so hard and I want to go back. But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I’ve learned…I was longing for some freedom, but now I hesitate to go. I am caught between the promise and the things I know. If it comes to quick, I may not recognize it. Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?” The next day, I spoke with two people who had lived in Brazil. One taught 4th grade in Sao Paulo for a year and the other worked with OMS in Londrina for 20 years and knew the man I talked to the previous work night! Will someone please tell me the chances of that? Not high. A peephole had been revealed. A small glimpse of my future had been unveiled, as if God decided to show me “Point E” but I was still on “Point A.” I had no idea how to continue.
Thankfully for me, God did.
This verse has meant a lot to me since I first read it the summer of 2000 while on a mission trip in New Mexico. I didn’t know then that I would one day devote a year to mission work in Brazil.
After I came back from my first mission to Brazil in March of 2006, I had trouble readjusting to life in Upland, IN. I thought about it all the time and would get distracted by pictures on my screensaver, spending time scrolling through all the faces that represented my time at Lar Batista. Over the summer I drove into Chicago to buy some Guarana, a Brazilian soft drink, and barely drank any of it because the taste brought back such powerful memories.
One evening, September 20th, I wondered why I still felt so strongly about Brazil even though all signs pointed to me not going there anytime soon. I wrote this in my journal, “Sometimes I see pictures from Brazil flash on my screensaver and I just get so frustrated. Why do I have over 1,000 pictures of somewhere I stayed for less than 1 week??” I begged God for a glimpse of direction, wondering if my heart would ever find relief or if I should let go.
Just the next night I wrote this, “Tonight I was at work and on my second call I begged God they wouldn’t answer…but they did. Two questions into the conversation, he said to me, ‘Well, I was a missionary in Brazil for 40 years.’ In Londrina, Parana, about 300 miles west of Sao Paulo. Wow. My whole body just had a shot go through it and I knew God had orchestrated that. We talked more about Brazil and it was a great conversation. I told Janell that story and she said, ‘Wow, the Lord is doing something in your life, Christine…but he is being SO mysterious!’”
These verses in Isaiah spoke to me that night, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ‘As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’” Isaiah 55:6, 10-11
A few days later, on September 25th, I was listening to a Sarah Groves CD during my quiet time. Her song, “Painting Pictures of Egypt” expressed nearly exactly what I had been feeling. “The future feels so hard and I want to go back. But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I’ve learned…I was longing for some freedom, but now I hesitate to go. I am caught between the promise and the things I know. If it comes to quick, I may not recognize it. Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?” The next day, I spoke with two people who had lived in Brazil. One taught 4th grade in Sao Paulo for a year and the other worked with OMS in Londrina for 20 years and knew the man I talked to the previous work night! Will someone please tell me the chances of that? Not high. A peephole had been revealed. A small glimpse of my future had been unveiled, as if God decided to show me “Point E” but I was still on “Point A.” I had no idea how to continue.
Thankfully for me, God did.
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