Overwhelmed!

That's a familiar feeling for me it seems. All too often it has to do with my difficulty dealing with my human weaknesses & limitations. Like realizing how much I have to do before I leave for Russia in a few weeks and forgetting that I don't have to rely solely on my own strength to get it done. Recently, though, I had one of those "overwhelmed" experiences that are not a result of dealing with my own weaknesses, but of seeing the God I trust working in His mysterious ways; knowing He's up to something, but not being exactly sure what. It was a few weeks ago at a meeting with my Launch group (missions group at church). There was another PT there whom I hadn't met before. I won't go into all of the details, but basically several things came up which seemed like potential answers to recent prayers. One of the things that really stood out as "a God thing" was that she had been in contact with a PT that she heard about in an article in a free PT magazine. That PT has done some work in Congo and is putting together a team of PTs to go back. What was funny was I had read the same article, tried & failed to reach that PT, then months later found the article again. I thought about just tossing it because I have so much clutter to deal with, but I really felt compelled to hang onto it, and not just that, but to try again to contact that PT. I did manage to find her phone number online that time and left her a message. Okay, I know this is getting to be a lot of detail - but, I'm just trying to convey how strangely "cooincidental" this all seemed and why it left me feeling.....overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the concern the God of the universe has in including me in His plans. overwhelmed by His ability to guide my steps when sometimes I feel so lost. Overwhelmed with trying to understand what it's all going to mean for me, but then realizing I don't have to. That's when it's good to be overwhelmed.

Back at it.

Okay, when I started this blog I knew it was going to be a challenge for me to keep it current. I thought if I put pressure on myself by giving the address out to people that I would have better follow through. Well, it's been 7 months since my last post so I don't know what to do about me.

Many of you know the big missions news for me right now is that I'm preparing to go back to Russia for another one-week adventure this August. (12 days total, including travel) This time we will be teaching English classes and through these will be sharing our testimonies of what God has done in our lives as a witness to those attending, most of whom are from a nominal Muslim background.

I'm reading a book right now called "The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God's Plan for the World." I recommend it to anyone who's given any thought to missions. I like his balanced approach, recognizing that missions is the whole Church's job, but also that there are many legitimate ways to be involved and not everyone is called to go. Even those who are called to go may not be called to spend the rest of their lives doing it. Another thing I really like about it is how he emphasizes the sovereignty of God. People (like me) stress out about finding God's exact will and suffer from the "paralysis of analysis." The author doesn't deny that God has a very specific plan for a person's life but insists that God is completely capable of leading His children into the way He has planned for them without their having to understand it all ahead of time. He includes practical advice about preparing for missions and some of the challenges involved. I'm not finished with it, but I have found it very helpful so far.

I took the summer off from classes and I still seem to have more to do than I have time to do it. I guess I'll wrap up for now and hope that I'll get around to writing something more before another half of a year goes by.

Grace & Peace