Saturday, April 30, 2011

It Is Well With My Soul


April 26, 2011

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!! Went my alarm clock at 6:45 AM.
There are few things I hate worse than alarms. But one of those things I hate more than alarms in general is MY alarm. Because you have to hit it multiple times for it to STOP BEEPING. And then. It was dark. Ohh. Waking up in the dark is just not positive. Aaaand it was raining. So it was freezing. And then there was no Internet!!! SO I couldn’t Skype Jenn!!!! AH. My soul. SO SAD. NOT ok, man. NOT ok. And then it was awful because I couldn’t even contact her to tell her I couldn’t skype! The agony.

Eventually, I gave up, and went back to sleep.

I don’t really know how to describe this day. I feel as though it was one of those days when I was caught up in living. Too caught up in it to really realize what was going on…

Last night, I prayed that God would help me to really BE HERE! “Number my days aright” was the actual phrase. I also prayed that He would allow me to spend my time with awesome people that would fill me up, as opposed to weigh me down with negativity. (Not that that happens here, OF COURSE)

So today, I was super blessed in conversation. I got an AWESOME time with Debs and Morgan. God really outdid himself on that one J Then I got to hang out with Tyler. Which is always fantastic.

The Internet is still too lame to do research for my paper, which is frustrating. But I’m not worried. I have until Friday, so I’m bound to get some research in by then!

This morning I was reading 2 Samuel, where David decides to build a palace of cedar for the ark of God, as David was living in a palace of cedar and the ark of God was staying in a tent. But God appeared to Nathan the prophet and told him not to build the ark a palace. God does not dwell in a house! And He is not defined by where His ark stayed!

Ok. You guys. How stinking BLESSED are we that THIS is our God?! He let His servant David live in a palace, while His ark remained in a TENT. That is unlike any other ruler in the universe. That just shocks me.
God is bigger than any dwelling place.

Which is cool. Because I have seen a variety of dwelling places here. They have ranged from mansions, suburban houses, to shacks, and the street.

Let us not be defined by where we live. But what’s in our hearts, hey?

Is it weird that I ALWAYS discover Biblical parallels to life in South Africa? Is that bad?



Shelli has a 16 year old friend named Abby. Abby has a tumor in her back. Tonight Shelli asked us to pray for her, because she was going to find out tomorrow if the doctors wanted to continue treatment, or if her case was hopeless.

Shelli just found out that Abby had a stroke, and then seizures as implications.

WHY, GOD?! Has she not been through enough?! What about her family?! Why are you allowing this suffering Lord?

Then I come back to my room, and the song “It is well with my soul” is playing.

No, Lord. It is not well with my soul.

“Oh, my soul, praise the Lord.”

I don’t want to praise Him.

But in this moment I think I understood the true meaning of joy.

Being in this pain and crap is life. But choosing to see that God is bigger and has a plan. I don’t know if that helps at all. But for me it does. God is steering this ship. He knows the way home. 

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