Taste of my processing.

This past week has been crazy. Lots and LOTS of time thinking, praying, processing, praying, talking, praying, jumping on the trampoline thinking, and more praying. I have been so blessed by mail this week its beyond words. I know it wasn't necessarily intentional, but I needed encouragement this week and your cards/packages did just that. Mom, Dad, Liz, and Jordan. You guys are amazing. I am sooooooo blessed. Check out some of the goodies they sent me! (And yes...that is a balloon. And yes it does have a smiley face on it :) And yes the chocolate is all gone. haha)

 

 So here are some of my thoughts...straight from my school journal. 

God has been teaching me a lot this past week about His provision and how He sustains me. Over Faith Weekend I really experienced having nothing and having God be my everything. It was incredibly humbling, challenging, difficult--but in some upside down God way really good. (It took me a couple days and lots of prayer to be able to say that...). What I'm learning is God doesn't promise us physical provision (clothes, food, shelter, etc.). He simply tells us not to worry about those things. He actually promises us that we will experience the opposite--the poor will always be among us, we will experience persecution, hardship, struggle. But God is so much bigger than that. He sustains us in spite of our needs. His knowledge of provision is so far beyond my understanding of what provision is.

So what does provision look like?

It is Jesus Christ. He is the bread of life. His sacrifice on the cross makes it possible for every single one of us to live for eternity with our heavenly Dad, to live forever without any needs, to live infinitely in complete fulfillment.  And in this earthly life, the bread of life still sustains because He is always with us. God promises he will never leave me. God promises he will never forsake me. God promises he will never forget me. I don't believe God is in all circumstances (specifically in suffering), but he is ALWAYS with me, even in the midst of those circumstances. When it seems I have nothing, by earthly standards, what I have found is that God can best provide for me in those moments. Because it is in those moments that He is truly my everything.

My prayer is that I can live with God as my everything even in the moments when I have earthly things too. My prayer is that prayer becomes your prayer too.

Peace and love from spring in New Zealand!