Well, it's been a couple weeks since I've written, so I guess I'm a little overdue. I guess maybe a post every other week is a bit more of a realistic goal.
Things here have been great these last couple weeks. It's been awesome going back to the beginning of it all in Genesis and Exodus and seeing how God's promises continued through the generations. It's really been interesting reading about Israel growing as a nation and has made me realize how, even though we hate to admit it, we can be really similar to them. We, or at least I, always look at Israel after they come out of Egypt and always think, "How can you guys be so stupid?" when I see them grumbling and not having faith and turning away from God, but how often do we in our lives do the exact same thing? I know, they've just seen God do some amazing things and have no reason to doubt God, but when you think about it, they're a people who have been living in slavery all their life and haven't really had much to believe in about God other than some stories about their ancestors. Not to mention the Egyptian gods, who don't care about man and definitely aren't trust worthy, who have formed their mindset about what God would be like, so it's kinda understandable that they would have some trust issues with this God that has allowed them to be in slavery for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, I've grown up in a Christian family and know all about the character and nature of God and have seen Him do some awesome things in my life and in providing for me, yet I still have a hard time trusting Him sometimes about finances and about Him providing for me as I follow Him. I'm doing the exact same thing that the Israelites were doing, just in a different way and in a completely different situation. It's really interesting when you step outside the situation and really think about it.
Anyways, it's definitely been an interesting journey these last couple weeks, and I can't wait to continue it with Leviticus this week. We started it at the end of this week and are through our first few reads, and the more I read it, the more excited I get about it. I know this may sound crazy to those of you who have read it before, I mean, all it is is a bunch of laws, but it's the message behind them that's the exciting part about it. All of the laws that God gave them wasn't just so that they would live a certain way and act the way that God wanted them to do, but they were all put in place to protect the Israelites from disease, falling into the wickedness around them, to prevent any sort of idolatry or pagan worship, etc. The laws on their own can be a bit dry, but when you start to see the heart of God behind the laws, that's when it gets really exciting, and I haven't even really started digging into it and haven't had a lecture to understand the laws better yet.
I must admit that things were getting a little dry for me when we were getting close to the end of the New Testament, but since I've really gotten re-focused these last couple weeks after God smacked me around in Revelation, it's been awesome! I've definitely gotten a new found joy in doing my work, even when I stay up all night doing it (pulled an all-nighter the last 3 books.....oops), and the further we get into the Old Testament, the more excited I get. It's definitely like nothing I've experienced before when I read the bible. It's amazing how much God has shown me that when I read my bible before I never really got the point of it, but now that I'm actually understanding that it wasn't written for me but was written for people who lived thousands of years ago and am starting to look at it from their mindset, even the most dry books just come alive!! Please be praying that this continues the deeper we get into the OT.
Other than school work, things have been pretty awesome here. I just celebrated my first birthday away from Canada. It was a little strange, and to be honest, a little tough at times leading up to it cause it kinda made me suffer from a little bit of homesickness (first time yet really, so not too bad), but it was still an awesome time and I was able to skype with my family and some friends, which was definitely a blessing and helped. A really exciting thing for me is that I've found a bouldering rock climbing wall in a park in Taipei that's free to use, and pretty legit too. It's amazing. It's really helping me enjoy being in Taiwan that much more, and although my hands were like little girls so they are pretty torn up right now, it's been awesome. I'm planning on going pretty much every Sabbath, since it's only about 1hr away using the public transit, and it's a nice way to get out of Dan Shui and just spend some time in the outdoors since I'm inside basically all week, and it's rock climbing, which I missed terribly.
Anyways, it's getting late here, so I should head to bed, just wanted to send you all a quick update first. I hope you guys are all doing fantastic back home and that God is blessing you all. Please be keeping me in your prayers, it means so much to me knowing that people are praying for me back home.
God bless.
Prayer Requests
Things here have been great these last couple weeks. It's been awesome going back to the beginning of it all in Genesis and Exodus and seeing how God's promises continued through the generations. It's really been interesting reading about Israel growing as a nation and has made me realize how, even though we hate to admit it, we can be really similar to them. We, or at least I, always look at Israel after they come out of Egypt and always think, "How can you guys be so stupid?" when I see them grumbling and not having faith and turning away from God, but how often do we in our lives do the exact same thing? I know, they've just seen God do some amazing things and have no reason to doubt God, but when you think about it, they're a people who have been living in slavery all their life and haven't really had much to believe in about God other than some stories about their ancestors. Not to mention the Egyptian gods, who don't care about man and definitely aren't trust worthy, who have formed their mindset about what God would be like, so it's kinda understandable that they would have some trust issues with this God that has allowed them to be in slavery for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, I've grown up in a Christian family and know all about the character and nature of God and have seen Him do some awesome things in my life and in providing for me, yet I still have a hard time trusting Him sometimes about finances and about Him providing for me as I follow Him. I'm doing the exact same thing that the Israelites were doing, just in a different way and in a completely different situation. It's really interesting when you step outside the situation and really think about it.
Anyways, it's definitely been an interesting journey these last couple weeks, and I can't wait to continue it with Leviticus this week. We started it at the end of this week and are through our first few reads, and the more I read it, the more excited I get about it. I know this may sound crazy to those of you who have read it before, I mean, all it is is a bunch of laws, but it's the message behind them that's the exciting part about it. All of the laws that God gave them wasn't just so that they would live a certain way and act the way that God wanted them to do, but they were all put in place to protect the Israelites from disease, falling into the wickedness around them, to prevent any sort of idolatry or pagan worship, etc. The laws on their own can be a bit dry, but when you start to see the heart of God behind the laws, that's when it gets really exciting, and I haven't even really started digging into it and haven't had a lecture to understand the laws better yet.
I must admit that things were getting a little dry for me when we were getting close to the end of the New Testament, but since I've really gotten re-focused these last couple weeks after God smacked me around in Revelation, it's been awesome! I've definitely gotten a new found joy in doing my work, even when I stay up all night doing it (pulled an all-nighter the last 3 books.....oops), and the further we get into the Old Testament, the more excited I get. It's definitely like nothing I've experienced before when I read the bible. It's amazing how much God has shown me that when I read my bible before I never really got the point of it, but now that I'm actually understanding that it wasn't written for me but was written for people who lived thousands of years ago and am starting to look at it from their mindset, even the most dry books just come alive!! Please be praying that this continues the deeper we get into the OT.
Other than school work, things have been pretty awesome here. I just celebrated my first birthday away from Canada. It was a little strange, and to be honest, a little tough at times leading up to it cause it kinda made me suffer from a little bit of homesickness (first time yet really, so not too bad), but it was still an awesome time and I was able to skype with my family and some friends, which was definitely a blessing and helped. A really exciting thing for me is that I've found a bouldering rock climbing wall in a park in Taipei that's free to use, and pretty legit too. It's amazing. It's really helping me enjoy being in Taiwan that much more, and although my hands were like little girls so they are pretty torn up right now, it's been awesome. I'm planning on going pretty much every Sabbath, since it's only about 1hr away using the public transit, and it's a nice way to get out of Dan Shui and just spend some time in the outdoors since I'm inside basically all week, and it's rock climbing, which I missed terribly.
Anyways, it's getting late here, so I should head to bed, just wanted to send you all a quick update first. I hope you guys are all doing fantastic back home and that God is blessing you all. Please be keeping me in your prayers, it means so much to me knowing that people are praying for me back home.
God bless.
Prayer Requests
- That God will continue to refresh me and to be speaking to me through the Old Testament
- That God will be speaking to and empowering our staff as they teach us
- That God will be with our school leader Lachlan as he goes home to South Africa for a couple weeks
- That I will be able to connect with some of the rock climbers here and that I will be able to build relationship with them and share the gospel with them
- That God will be working through our surf ministry and that He'll be giving Chris His vision for what they are doing and how He wants them to reach the surfing community in Taiwan
- For Taiwan in general that God will be breaking down the barriers to Christianity here so that they can be freed from the bondage of their ancestor worship
- That God will be protecting our school from sickness (a lot of people still getting sick, but nobody's been to the hospital lately - Praise God)
- That God will just really be blessing our entire school and that we'd all be giving Him our 100%
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