The rough patches

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: 

It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” 

~ C.S. Lewis

These past few days I've been battling a rough case of homesickness.

As excited as I was (and am) to be here, I've been feeling really alone and a little lost. There are wonderful people that we've met. But we've still just met them. I'm longing to be surrounded by those who know me best. And they are all so far away right now. I don't want to give up and go home. I just want to be done with this phase of moving already.

I am glad we're here. And I know that God brought us here. But that doesn't necessarily mean things will automatically be a breeze. It doesn't mean that I will magically make friends overnight. It doesn't mean that we won't miss our families and life long friendships back in California.

The reality is, God hasn't promised us that this would be easy or that we'd even like it.

But He has promised to never leave us. He has promised to give us peace. to give us joy in the midst of all things. That we will never really be alone. That He will provide for us. That His plans for us have a purpose... It's a long list.

Because I know that... It's now up to me. I can either crawl into a corner and try to escape, or I can recognize God's sovereignty and choose to trust Him.

God grows us, speaks to us, comforts us, and loves us in the midst of pain in such a tangible way. He makes it worth it. Because I know Him, I know that it will be.

So, dear friends. Keep us in your prayers. Pray that we would allow God to grow us through the rough patches.

Also, here's some adorableness thrown in for good measure... you're welcome.

What we're reading | Praying God's Word

This book by Beth Moore was recommended to me by one of my best friends (whom I have been missing a lot since the move).

It's more of a devotional & reference book than a straight through sort of read. It's one of those books that will be highlighted and underlined and collect many a bookmark. It will tag along with me on trips and sit on my bedside table for a very, very long time.

There is so much I could share about this book. I could probably write an entire blog inspired by it. But for now I will just share few quotes from it that have deeply encouraged me in the past few days. I hope they do the same for you.

Thoughts on prayer

I'm taking a queue from my dear friend Laura today.

She recently posted a blog about how her sweet, amazing grandmother who is losing her vision. She asked for prayer.

I started praying for her as I read the post and found myself saying, "Lord, I know that you have the power to restore sight to the blind. You have done it... I read about it yesterday..."

I'm going through a reading plan on YouVersion called the Essential 100 and read Mark 8 yesterday.

 ²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” ²⁵ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

I'm going to be real honest right now. I kinda tuned out while reading this yesterday.

Simply because I knew the story. I'd heard it in Sunday School and High School chapel and in Youth group. It's not that I didn't believe it. It was just familiar. But as I prayed for Laura's grandmother today, looking at the photo of her right in front of me and asking God to do something that He has done before... That story in Mark became so different. It became alive.

See, it isn't just a story. That blind man was someone's family. Maybe he even had people praying for him. And Jesus restored his sight.

That Jesus who healed the blind man is the exact same Jesus we can pray to today.

Our God is powerful.
He is capable.
He is unchanging.

May we keep this in mind when we come before Him in prayer and be encouraged by it to do so more often.