Monday, August 11, 2008

So I lift up my eyes....

How comforting!

Psalm 121
1 I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel

does not slumber or sleep.
5 The LORD protects you;
the LORD is a shelter right by your side.
6 The sun will not strike you by day,
or the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all harm;
He will protect your life.
8 The LORD will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Resting on His unchanging grace.....

It all started the minute the plane I was on landed in Jakarta. It was Tuesday afternoon on June 3, 2008.

My brain worked like an old VCR rewinding the tape to the very first time I left Indonesia for America to study. It was 8 years ago. It seemed so long ago, yet the memory is still so vivid in my mind.

I was 19 when I moved to America. I remember crying myself to sleep on my first night in Wichita, Kansas because I was scared of what's gonna happen. I was in a total foreign land not knowing anybody. My parents were with me, but I knew they were going to leave me soon. They assured me that it's gonna be OK.

My fear turned out to be a blessing. America is definetely where God changed my life radically. My eyes were opened. I was exposed to people from different nations with different backgrounds and beliefs, and that's when God grabbed hold of my heart.

A heart for evangelism was formed.
A vision was born.

It wasn't long until I graduated and God moved me away to a new place for a new job. It was hard in the beginning, BUT AGAIN, God was faithful. I loved (and I still do when I think about it now) the job I had at the Seminary. I had never thought I would love a job that much until I was at Midwestern. Though there were challenges, but it was TOTALLY rewarding knowing that it was for the Lord. I loved the church I went to and the ministries I was involved in. I loved the prayer meetings I had with the girls and of course the sweet friendships I made.

And, again it wasn't long until God moved me away again to my homeland. Not a completely new place to some people, since this is where I was born and raised. However, having been a way for 8 years, trust me! It's different.

So, I am facing the reality of many changes in my life as of late.

Job title: from Director of Communications to a Total Bum.
Residence: from America to Indonesia.
Church home: from Antioch Bible Baptist Church to "Not sure yet."
Time zone: from "Central Time Zone" to "Waktu Indonesia Barat."
Radio station: from K-LOVE or Calvary to "is-there-even-a-Christian-FM?" radio station.

As I'm writing this entry, I am reminded that it's all about Him and for His glory. Circumstances do change. Family and friends do fail us from time to time. Job title change. But, I know my God has never changed.

As I escaped to that place that allows my soul to breathe and rest and reflect, with His still small voice God reassured and confirmed that He has everything under control.

As I dropped the "yucks" the world and people hand me, He traded them for the fullness of Him.

And as that old hymn that I love says, "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand," so my soul says, "And, I will not be moved!"

In Christ alone,
lee ya

The Solid Rock
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Chorus:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.


His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.