I love when you know God has orchestrated something just for you.
It's as if He is saying,
"Victoria, here is a little something from me to you. My hand is upon you. I am with you."
Here are just a couple of moments where that has happened to me lately,
where if you could look inside me, you would see a heart full of smiles.
I may just limit my "smile moments" to the last 2 weeks. Wow He is faithful!
On Tueday I had wanted to bake banana bread; however, I didn't have any measuring cups/ spoons, nor a loaf pan, but what do you know Ruth had just baked some that day and said,
"Here you go Victoria. Please take a loaf of Banana bread home with you."
Did she know I had been wanting to bake bb? No! But my Father did!
On Monday (my 25th birthday) the women totally surprised me! I was planning to go to Matt and Ruth's for dinner that night. It was about 5:15 and I was at a staff meeting. I was counting down the minutes until I could celebrate with them. Seriously. We were praying to close our meeting and Sarah gave a loud, "AMEN!" At that cue, 3 of the loveliest ladies appeared at the door and said, "Surprise. Happy Birthday Victoria. You're coming with us!" And what did they have in mind? A special birthday dinner at Sushi Co. We actually didn't end up eating Sushi. We had Thai food instead. Loved it! They sure know me well. I couldn't help but think of my girls back home and eating at Panang or Banana Leaf restaurant. I am grateful for all of the wonderful women
in my life, who shine so brightly and tell the world that Jesus Loves them.
One of the things about the birthday dinner that stood out for me was when they gave me my Birthday Card. What was so special about it? What made me smile on the inside (and maybe on the outside too) was that Bindu's birthday message to me was was written in handwritting
and looked just like my mamma's handwriting. I couldn't help but feel a special hug
from across the globe as I read her message to me and knew that from afar
my mamma was wishing me a happy birthday too.
I took last Friday off- a "recharge day" to myself. I had been feeling low last week, discouraged, homesick, had had a lingering cold for a couple of weeks and had just moved. I needed some time to do something for me! As I was praying last week, I felt dry and was asking the Lord to breathe new life on the dry bones I had. So, Friday came... was started off skyping with my prayer group from home and then I headed off to the European side of the city to hang out on this street called Istiklal- I wanted to find the one thrift store I had heard about (found it and ended up buying something. yay!). As I was making my way back down the long street, a woman approached me. She tapped me on the shoulder and said in English, "Here, you dropped this" and handed me some money. I looked at her confused becuase I didn't think I had dropped anything. But she looked at me and was intent on giving it to me. I walked to the side of the street and looked in my hand 50 Lira, about $35 dollars! A significant amount. I grabbed my purse, and it was still closed, and then dug out my wallet and it too was still zipped up. All this to say that I will never know if it was mine but I
really think it was an angel who gave it to me. I think it was God saying,
"Happy Birthday, Victoria. My hand is upon You. My Favour is upon you. Be refreshed."
I never saw the angels again, but I think they were sent just for me.
I lived with Lydia for the first four months of living here. It had been a good time together and I really liked our apartment (despite the funky smell that came and went as it pleased and the not-so generous shower that only gave me hot water for 2 minutes). We enjoyed having friends over for dinner and I loved cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen. Well the time came and went and we both had to leave our cozy home at the end of March. I was so nervous about my big move! I can't even describe it to you. I NEVER really get nervous, I just take things as they come, but this was different. There was a little idea in my head that living with a local family would extrememly difficult because of the language barrier and it made me so nervous about moving. I was delaying my move as long as I could because the whole thing just scared me. Finally the day came to move. I was wrestling with this yucky cold and was not feeling the greatest but I had two strong men come and help me! Funny how something very small (and maybe trivial) can put you at ease. But when I was led to my new room, a smile came to my insides when I saw my bedspread. Funny I know! But just the fact that I liked the bedspread that had been set out for me reassured me that the move would be ok! I'm beginning to become more and more confident in the fact that my Father wants to give us good things. Psalm 84:11 says, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows
favor and honor; no good
thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
Thank you Father that you are our satisfaction and that you bring sunshine each day. Thank you Jesus that you orchestrate these little things to remind us that you are there, all along, orchestrating these little sparkles that make us smile 1000 times on the inside (and hopefully on the outside too).
Drakeford, you put it really well when you said, "I will be your satisfaction; I will be your bread and wine; I will take all of your troubles and turn them into life; I will be your daily portion; With these hands I will provide. I will be meet your every need and I will keep you satisfied."
Check out my friend's music. Drake, you inspire me!
- Thanks Drake for the special DVD,
you don't know how much the words to your songs speak to me!
You are our satisfaction. You give us life. You are with us! Thank you Lord!
1 comment:
Beautiful post. Love those "special moments" that you KNOW are just for you.
Post a Comment