God works all things together for good

Nature conservancy Puget Sound, Feb 2014

Written Feb 2014. When I was home at Christmas one of my friends from church said that next time I’m back she would really like a report on what God has been doing in my life over here in the States. Since then I’ve been mulling this over looking for inspiration. I am both an introvert and introspective. The art of sitting in a quiet room by myself pondering my life is second nature, it’s calming and renewing; unfortunately right now I have writers block. What has God been doing in my life? I’ve been coming up short; which isn’t to say God hasn’t been here, but it doesn’t feel like I have a tale to tell. I'm going with the dangerous option of just starting to write and see what comes out. This is what I think I know...

Dartmoor (?), June 2010

1) The same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God is the same here as he ever was back home and, to my annoyance, I am the same person here as I ever was back home. My relationship with God didn’t suddenly soar in to some super spiritual dimension, it carried on with the same steady trust I have acknowledged for many years. God is faithful. This is the truth. God is not changing, if my relationship with him is ever going to change it is going to me that does the changing. This isn’t to say I am toiling up the hill alone trying to reach him but rather he came down the hill to meet me and now journeys with me. 

2) Moving to another country is exhausting. 

Thank God for airplanes and that I didn't have to walk myself to my new country like Abram and Sarai did.

Blaise Castle, July 2009

I keep a diary/journal of letters to God, poems, songs, and bible passages. In the search for inspiration I have flicked back over the last 6 months. In that time I’ve managed 12 entries. My first entry on the 28^th July starts “I’m going to try to keep a better diary so I can look back and marvel at the works of your hand”.  That lasted about six seconds. On the 18^th August after two weeks here “It is actually painful to think!”.  A month in I had hit “When untangling a ball of string the fastest way not to finish is to never begin”. A week after that I had “Made it through another week and I am still mostly sane!”. I also started a bucket list. Six of my diary entries happened in November, which a Fisher’s Exact Test tells me is not more than I would expect by chance (p=0.193). The 28th of November stated "Oh God, its been a cloudy week, its been a cloudy month". At times like this I always 'speak' to God the most and listen the least. Thankfully the dawning of December bought a little more sunshine through the clouds and life seemed a little brighter.

Dartmoor, Autumn 2012

I have many favourite psalms, but psalm 121 has to be one of my favourites for cloudy days;

Psalm 121

I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watched over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Dartmoor, June 2010

I guess that pretty much sums up how December started. One of my favourite images from the psalms of ascent is from Psalm 126; "When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy". I can't imagine what it would be like to be an exile, or someone waiting for an exile to return home. I do understand that sense of longing for home though. I also understand that wondrous sense of joy on being able to return to it. 

 3) Thriving vs. Surviving.
Since Christmas this is a question I have been asking myself. What is the difference between surviving and thriving in Seattle? I haven't really got any further with answering that question but I carry on asking it anyway.