Hi everybody!!! (I know all of you have been anxiously checking to hear from me ; ) JK)
I'm having a great time with K and some other friends. Enjoying the heat and sun! Getting me ready for India cause its gonna be HOT!!
I'm going to post some pictures soon hopefully, but I have to get back to my own computer first. Let me tell you, the kids here could give Indian kids a run for their money in the cuteness department. I'll post some pictures and show you soon.
I also wanted to say happy father's day to my dad! I miss you a lot and I'm sad that I'm not there. Thanks for being a really awesome dad, the best two crazy girls who love hanging out on the opposite side of the world could ask for! I love you!!
ps-- it took me FOREVER to figure out how to write this post because all of the blogspot tabs, etc were in arabic!! haha
I wanted to share with you all one of the books that I will be reading on my trip this summer because it is AMAZING and you should all read it.
It's called the Scent of Water: grace for every kind of broken by Naomi Zacharias.
Naomi is the daughter of author and speaker Ravi Zacharias that has written a number of wonderful books and travels around the world preaching. Naomi runs the social justice branch of Mr. Zacharias's ministry, Wellspring International. This book is a compilation of stories of the people that she has met in her work and travels, from children in India to prostitutes from the red-light district in Amsterdam.
She weaves her story in with the stories of these women all the while pointing out God's grace to us all. In the midst of these tragic stories, Naomi offers hope. She offers God's hope. And a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Her initial description of India would have left my heart aching if I weren't on my way there now (in a roundabout way). Instead I sat on my plane nodding, smiling, with tears in my eyes (I'm sure the man next to me thought I was crazy). Her words describe my feelings about India perfectly-- "You will feel special, amazed, full, stirred, naive, helpless, enraged, awakened- all in the first day. India is magical."
Already this book has broken my heart and nearly made me cry, and I'm only 60-some pages in. If I were reading this in private, I would be a mess.
Anyway-- go order this book. Read it. Let it change your thinking, let it change your views of the world. And the do something about it. Don't just read the stories- do something about it.
I want to challenge you with this quote from a prostitute from Amsterdam in response to being asked about going to church. She said, "'The problem with your people is, they tell me I should leave, but they never want to let me forget where I came from either.'"
Is this Jesus??
Go buy this book and pray that God changes our hearts.
It feels like I have been looking forward to this for so long and now I'm actually going!! If you can't tell, I'm really excited!!
Thank you all so much for your love and support as I prepared to go. All of you who gave so generously to my support and to my book project, you have overwhelmed me completely!
So you know, I have send $600 to the Crosspoint office to sponsor 1 Bible student for the year and I will be taking over $1000 to India to spend on books for the orphans!!
You all have been way too good to me, which points my focus straight to our God who has been way too good to me and to all of us!!
Thank you for reminding me of His goodness through your generosity!
I love you all and I can't wait to get my next post up!! Coming at you from CA or India!!!
And to leave you with a picture-- this is what my packing looks like. I'm actually done earlier than I would have expected. With enough time to blog. Last year I was up till like 2 in the morning packing.
This is a little random-- I'm sure you were expecting me to post about leaving-- that will be next!!
Since school let out, I've been feeling the desire to be crafty. Not serpent in the garden crafty, but Martha Stewart, make your own stuff crafty. Or as Summit people might better understand-- Jen Thompson crafty.
My brother also recently moved into his own house, so I decided to make him some curtains. It took me forever to get around to it, but they turned out really well. I enjoyed the project and I'm excited to start my next one.
Last week, I went over to the wonderful Michal Rudolph's house to watch the first half of Anne of Green Gables (we need to finish it sometime next week, Michal!!) This was one of my favorite movies when I was younger and let me tell you, its even better all as a (sort of) adult.
Anne is such a character. What a sweet, innocent child. My friend, Ellen, pointed out, that despite everything that this little girl has been through, she is hopeful, imaginative, and happy. Somehow, she managed to avoid some extreme mental scarring.
But that's not really what I want to write about.
I was struck by something while watching the movie.
If you have seen it, then you will remember that sweet Anne hates her red hair. She thinks that it makes her hideous. Personally, I think that she is a beautiful little girl, and I used to long for pretty red hair like her's, but she hated it. She even tried to dye it black, but it turned out green.
At 2 points in the movie, other characters mocked her because of her hair. The first was her adoptive mother's friend and the second was Gilbert Blythe. In response to these comments (Gil called her "Carrots"), she verbally attacked the friend and broke her slate over Gil's head. It isn't until the end of the movie that she finally forgives Gil for his comments. (They end up married- but that's a different, wonderful story.)
Her responses seem extreme, right? Anne is just over dramatic, right?
At first glance, I would agree. But when I thought about it a little more, I understood.
These characters unintentionally picked on the very thing that Anne hated the most about herself, the things that she constantly was telling herself. When Gil called her "Carrots", he was repeated and cementing the thoughts that plagued her. He was validating the thing that she already thought- that she was ugly. That her hair made her undesirable and hideous.
Has this ever happened to you?
Has anyone ever unknowingly, hit that extremely raw nerve and confirm your worst fears about yourself?
Maybe, not. Maybe I'm just as dramatic as Anne, because I know that this has happened to me.
And I know how much it hurts.
I know how much I wish sometimes that I could break a slate over their head in response. (not really, you get my meaning)
But then I started thinking- What if I'm not Anne, what if I'm Gil?
Have my words unknowingly hit that raw nerve in someone's heart? Have I unintentionally found the thing that someone hates about themselves the most and then just flaunted it to the world? Have I done that intentionally?
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18
A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Proverbs 15:4
Believe me when I say, I am writing this more to myself than for anyone else. More times than not, but tongue is like sword thrusts, hurting instead of building up.
I need to think before I speak. I can't tell you how many times my mom told me that growing up, and not just saying mean things, just saying things in general- like Anne, I like to talk and don't always know when to stop.
Discernment in speaking is something that I need, its something that a lot of us need. So lets ask for it. Lets ask God to give us the wisdom to know when to not speak, when to just be quiet. Because even a joke, a little bit of teasing, it can be the thing to make a girl with pretty red hair do something completely stupid and end up dying it green.
I want people to say this about me:
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26
If you had no idea what I was just talking about, PLEASE go watch Anne of Green Gables. It is wonderful!
