Lovely

This past week had some highs and some lows, but one in particular visitor made it all very lovely!  Not only did she leave these beautiful tulips pictured here as a wonderful thank you for letting her stay at our home (which really, I want to thank her for staying here!), but it was so refreshing to have her visit.  Our dear friend Lauren is raising support to go back to East Asia with Campus Crusade.  She spent the week visiting small groups and meeting with people here in Tri Cities about what God has put on her heart.  We had a wonderful time with her here, staying up late talking about East Asia, playing Carcassone (she had actually played it before!), watching old videos of East Asia and WSU, and one day Lauren and I went for a run by the river with the dogs.  

What was really refreshing about her being here was hearing about her heart for East Asia.  Steven and I have talked a lot recently about what it would mean for us to go back.  How would that look?  Should he finish his MBA?  What would we do (for a living)?  Should we even be talking about this?  When we first moved to Tri Cities after we got married, we kind of said four years or so.  Enough time to pay off debt (almost there!) and for Steven to get his MBA. It has been two years and our hearts are very unsettled.  In light of what going back overseas would look like and mean to us, sometimes the daily grind here in America pales in comparison.  Ok, it more than pales, it wanes and falls away.  Not that living in America and doing ministry through the church is bad.  For most people, that is what God has called them to and they thrive and build disciples and see lives radically changed by Christ.  We know that God would totally do that in our lives here in America, but both Steven and I feel that our time overseas is not done yet.  We interned for a year five years ago, and God isn't through with us in East Asia yet.  The hard part is having the patience to wait upon the Lord to call us back overseas and not jump to it ourselves.  We've done a lot of processing lately and this is the smallest sliver of what is really in my heart.  The whole weight of it would eat up pages.  Just this week Lauren shared a verse that God spoke to her about going over long term.  God had used that same verse in my heart years ago when I first stepped foot in East Asia, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Luke 10:2)." 

I see so much potential in what God could do in us and through us if we yield to His ways.  Sometimes it is hard to hear His voice through the distractions of a busy day, but that doesn't change the fact that He is calling, always pursuing our hearts to draw us near to Him.  As we wait upon the Lord and draw near to Him, He will reveal His ways to us!  During my time in East Asia, God really used Psalm 67 to proclaim His love for the nations in my heart. In fact, I remember before coming home having this psalm written out on scrolls in characters for some of my supporters.  It is a constant reminder that God chooses to use us to reveal Himself to others so that all the nations may praise Him! 

May God be gracious to us and bless us
       and make his face shine upon us,
       that your ways may be known on earth,
       your salvation among all nations.
 May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
       for you rule the peoples justly
       and guide the nations of the earth.
  May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 Then the land will yield its harvest,
       and God, our God, will bless us.
 God will bless us,
       and all the ends of the earth will fear him.