Things Done (Praise God!)

Thanks for your prayers! By God's grace, a lot of things got done today. Morning worship went well (praise God!), IT training was completed (and properly appreciated), login and training for the new students happened (almost flawlessly), and the utility disconnects at the old house were all scheduled.

Gen and I were still waiting for a key that was supposed to arrive in the mail to the rental place we were going to examine. It still didn't come today, but someone else managed to get a hold of a key, so we went to check the place out. We loved it! So starting March 1st, Gen and I will be splitting a three bedroom/three bath condo about one-half mile from the office. It's furnished and gorgeous, so you'll have to come visit us - we even have an extra bed for you to sleep in. It's an awesome God-story of provision, so you'll have to ask when you come. So exciting!

My parents arrived this evening and they'll help me move the stuff from one garage to another tomorrow morning. I'm so thankful for my parents. And my sister L. She's asleep on a sleeping bag on my bedroom floor right now. I think I'll go join her.

(Jen and Aaron - you guys were on my prayer list today. No more being sick!)

From this morning's song sheet

I’m giving You my heart and all that is within,

I lay it all down for the sake of You, my King.

I’m giving You my dreams,

I’m laying down my rights,

I’m giving up my pride for the promise of new life.

 

And I surrender all to You, all to You.

And I surrender all to You, all to You.

Tomorrow's To-Do List

Tonight's songs at prayer meeting were all about God's faithfulness. I needed that. I think tomorrow's going to be busy. I was busy during the ice storm catching up on sleep. Perhaps I should have been working on some of this instead...

• Prep songs for morning worship
• Final check of new student logins and permissions
• Complete Thursday Morning IT Training documentation
• Prep tickets for two new volunteers starting next week
• Find key arriving in mail for potential housing rental for Gen and me
• Having found key, call landlord and see if then is a good time to visit the rental
  
• Visit the rental.
• Make a decision on the rental
• Do initial login and training for new students (1:00 pm)
• Arrange for moving truck
  
• Move furniture from old house garage into new house garage (can be done Friday AM if need be)
• Turn off utilities at old house
• Chiropractor appointment
• Parents and L. arrive for visit.
• Oh... and regular helpdesk responsibilities.

It's promising to be a crazy day. I'm off to bed to get ready for it. You can pray for me. And pray for the housing/rental decisions. God has opened so many doors for this that I'm looking forward to what He does tomorrow. :)

And, in return... how can I be praying for you? If you don't want to post it in the comment, my email address is on my blog. Or just email me. Or send me a facebook message. I'll gladly add you to my prayer list. (Jaime, you and Andrew were on my list today...)

Ice Storm Comfort

The promised ice storm which shut the office down yesterday finally came through last night about 8:00 or so. By 11pm, the sidewalks and ground were white with sleet and the roads were getting messy. The sidewalks got slick about 7pm. I know. L., you weren't the only one to have a "touchdown" yesterday!

The office is closed until noon today as the streets are frozen over. Prayer meeting has been moved from last night to tonight. It's cold outside (umm... except compared to Anthony where it's 7 degrees and my dad is delivering miles of city mail on foot today).

So... I'm going to go check out the gfa.org update on bicycles for missionaries and then head back to my papasan to cuddle with a good book and my grandmother's quilt. Yay for flannels PJs and warm houses!

In Your Hands

Not a hymn, but still...

My life is in Your hands;
My heart is in Your keeping.
I'm never without hope,
Not when my future is with You.

My life is in Your hands,
And though I may not see clearly,
I will lift my voice and sing
'Cause Your love does amazing things.
Lord, I know my life is in Your hands.

On other notes: the GFA office is closed today due to the pending ice storm. I gotta pack up and get outta here so I can work on a home computer for another staff member and get home before the roads get bad.

Random Psalty Song

I found this song going through my head this afternoon and had to think for a while before I could track it back to Charity Churchmouse and the Churchmouse Choir.

Take all of me (take all of me)
Take all of me (take all of me)
For a world that's lost
Help me count the cost
Take all of me...

Hymn Week - Jesus Paid It All

I know - Hymn Week is long over. But since it's my blog, I've decided it's going to be an ongoing feature of unknown regularity. Today's song through the head:

I heard the Savior say,
"Thy strength indeed is small.
Child of weakness, watch and pray.
Find in me thine all in all."

Jesus paid it all;
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimsom stain;
He washed it white as snow.

The big sister I never had

(No, this isn't referring to you, C.)

Have I mentioned how gracious Network Admin and his wife and two girls are? They've been a blessing to me ever since they arrived at the ministry in early summer '08. And they still love me--even though I slept through their moving party last weekend.

I must admit, I've been giving Network Admin a hard time the last couple days. Why? Probably because he's available. :) Yesterday, he made a change that (oops!) disconnected my network connection in the middle of a database permissions adjustment. So I gave him the "if looks could kill" look as he emerged from the data center. Today I was putting lunch on my "tab" at the Cafe when he reached for his tab card. I grabbed the file box and pulled it towards me possessively.

Network Admin gave a hearty laugh and exclaimed, "You're like the big sister I never had!"

Big sister? That's nice, but I'm not that old, Mr. Network Admin-Who-is-15-Years-Older-than-Me.

(I'm glad you can give me a hard time too.)

DECISIONS, decisions

Since my post a couple weeks ago about Decisions, I’ve been learning a lot more about “yes,” “no,” and “wait.” It’s interesting because amid all the decisions, there are two that tend to stand out. They’re very different in type and magnitude. But… it seems like the Lord keeps teaching me things through the smaller decisions that help me trust God in the bigger decision. He’s really amazing like that. I’m still connecting the dots (and God is still putting the dots in their places) so I don’t quite have my head around it. But I am befuddled and grateful for pattern He’s giving.

Housing after my time with the J-Fam, HelpDesk responsibilities, new students and interns arriving (but not living with me!), other stuff… I’ll fill you in more as the Lord fills me in, but in the meantime, your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Directed Steps

About two weeks ago, I put on my Outlook calendar for Wednesday the 21st, Invite C-Family to Supper???. My schedule was busy and I never got around to inviting them or working out the details of how it would happen. So Tuesday morning, I deleted the appointment. Tuesday evening, Mrs. C approached me at prayer and asked how I was. Short conversation later, I had invited her and the family to help me clean my rental house and have supper with me on Wednesday.

So...Mrs. C helped me finish packing up the kitchen and then we had supper - praise God for the crockpot and rice cooker. We didn't have time to mint-stick the brownies, but we did have ice cream on the WARM brownies. YUM, YUM! (Yes, Gen, there are leftovers and yes, you can eat them!)

I could tell that Mrs. C and the girls were tired, but they still came back to the house and helped me clean for another hour. Now the dusting is done, the master bathroom is done, the secondary bathroom is done, the boxes are all taped and labeled and in the garage, my car is loaded for the next trip to Johnsons, and my spirits are lifted.

Mrs. C had been reading Proverbs recently and shared with me from Prov 20:24 the promise that our steps are directed by the Lord. We really felt that tonight was a living example.

I don't think I've ever had a better time scrubbing a tub than I did tonight as Mrs. C was exulting over the things the Lord was showing her through the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn.

I praise God for you guys!

As if You Should Do Things My Way

This morning’s IT meeting brought discussion of Touching Godliness Through Submission chapter 2 – “The Spirit of Submission.” I had listened to the audio in preparation for the meeting, but opening the chapter in the book, I found the chorus below. It was a good focus point for my day.

It’s all about you, Jesus,
And all this is for you,
For Your glory and Your fame.
It’s not about me,
As if You should do things my way;
You alone are God,
And I surrender to Your ways.

From Jesus, Lover of My Soul by Paul Oakley

The Body of Christ

The Body of Christ. The fellowship of believers. Some times we take this previous gift for granted. I've had a few reminders recently. Even now, I'm sitting in Betty's living room watching a movie with her and a friend. Betty's new laptop is happily working and the supper Betty fixed was delicious.

• Jeff and Melanie at church asked me specifically about the prayer request I had shared last week.
• The J-Fam needed a place to stay on their way to AZ and ended up staying with some of my prayer supporters. Michelle was so excited about the time of fellowship they had with these believers that they had never even met before.
• KT stayed with a friend's parents in Atlanta last month when her Christmas flights were messed up. Again, tremendously blessed by the service and fellowship of people she had never met.
• Ingrid helped me rake my leaves at the spur of the moment today.
• The Lunsfords are having me out to supper tomorrow evening.

So blessed...

Thankful for...

• A coworker who watches HelpDesk while I work on a backlog of ticket assignments
• Newsies Soundtrack
• And the fun gift from Sarah of Mexican Coke in a glass bottle. That's just fun!

Heading to New House

We just finished moving the S of D stuff to the new house. I still have stuff to pack and move, but... tonight will be my first official night with my new family - the J-Fam! I'm renting a bedroom from them for a month or two and see where God takes me from there. But yay for the J-Fam! I've still got a busy schedule for the next several days and the J-Fam is heading to California for a support trip on Saturday, so I'll be at an empty house. But newly-arrived GFA staff member Gen is going to stay with me. So I won't be lonely. But I'll still get to have quiet time. If I can slow myself down enough. And get my old house cleaned.

Tueday Night Prayer

I really enjoyed last night's prayer meeting, exhausted though I was. Really enjoyed. Hearing the leaders' hearts for GFA and the beginning reports of the 2008 fruit from the mission field reminded me of why I came to GFA six years ago. I sat there, challenged, as John praised God for the growth in the ministry this year and asked us to pray for an even greater increase next year.

"It's not so we can have some really cool annual report. It's so we can train more workers and we can drill more Jesus Wells and help more kids and send more missionaries and do more things that are going to see 700 million people reached with the Gospel.

I'm convinced that the Lord loves the people of Asia. And as long as it's true that every time my heart beats, somebody plunges into hell without ever hearing our Savior's name and if it's true that he left the glories of heaven to come to earth to seek and to save that which was lost, then I know that he'll respond [to our prayers]."

To you, my readers: we have the privilege of laboring to reach the half of the world that has never heard the name of Jesus. Thank you for laboring alongside me with your prayers and support!

Hymn Week - Trusting Jesus

from memory, so perhaps a little off...

Trusting as the moments fly
Trusting as the days go by
Trusting Him whate're befall
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Hymn Week (cont) - Praise to the Lord!

From Tuesday Night Prayer Meeting (thanks, Rich!):

Praise to the Lord,
The Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him,
For He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord
Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings,
Yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Moving the Righteous

A friend came over last night to help me pack up the kitchen for tomorrow's big move and we talked about the fact that I'm starting my 7th year at GFA and starting my 7th address. She wrote me this morning: "I came across this verse this morning and thought of you with your 6 moves and another one coming up! 'I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.' Genesis 28:15."

Thinking of scripture and moving made me go back and dig out the scripture I was given at our New Year's Eve service. Yep, I was right. It did have to do with moving. Psalm 55:22b says, "He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

Does that mean I need to work on my righteousness?

Random Things from This Week

Some things I did this week:

• Learned (once again) not to sweat the small stuff (I'll never finish this lesson.)
  
• Had coffee (okay, well it was Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolate) with another staff member, Regina. I hadn't gotten to visit with her much at all - it was good!
• Enjoyed supper with cousins Jen and Stephen
• Invited myself over to friends' houses twice. Both houses had chocolate cake. My cousins decided I have super powers that allow me to discover chocolate cake. I told them it was my amazing nose.
  
• Procrastinated packing
• Started reading Consider Your Call by Gisela Punnose
• Talked on the phone with my Daddy
• Went shopping for a storage unit to hold my extra stuff when I move next week
• Gifted my cousin with a plastic chicken that lays candy egg
• Listened through Matthew and Mark in mp3 format
• Had my first ever chiropractor appointment
• Got two new roommates (for the next week)
  
• Had a dentist appt and had NO cavities! YAY! (But you can pray for my gums - they need to be healthier.)
• Got good-night hugs and kisses from the J-Fam's three little boys. They are so cute.

"Good night, Auntie Dorinda!" Good night, boys!

Hymn Week - 'Tis So Sweet

I led worship this morning and two out of the four songs were hymns - How Great Thou Art and Trust and Obey. Several people expressed gladness aftwards, "I miss the hymns." Several people didn't know them at all, but they chimed in lustily during the chorus.

Here's another good one:

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take him at his word;
Just to rest upon his promise,
And to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I've proved him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust him more!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

Hymn Week - He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be,
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

Formatting... or not

So I guess I don't have the formatting when posting via email figured out. I'll go fix that last post. Oh, and we had the tomato soup this evening and it wasn't gloppy. Well, it was burnt. But that's because I got distracted rubbing Jessie's feet and forgot that I put the soup on high to heat. But we made doodles for it and it was good anyway. Now to go scrub the dishes and then go see Angela, an intern from 3 years ago that's back to visit. Then I'll start packing. Sometime. Soon.

Jes and Renee came home yesterday with this "amazing site." It was Hamster Dance. Remember? That early internet phenomenon? I didn't know Hamster Dance still lived. But it does. So they spent several minutes perfecting their own version of the hamster dance in the living room. They hadn't heard of Hamster Dance before. Young'uns!

Trust and Obey

When I went to lunch, one of the S of D students was paging through a "Revival Hymnal" from the early 1900's. I miss the hymns. So I've decided that it's hymn/song week on Dorinda's blog. Especially since I've figured out the formatting on posting by email. Except for the italics. I'll have to come back later and put in the italics.

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way.
When we do His good will,
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey-
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

Then with fellowship sweet
We will sit at his feet
Or we'll walk by His side in the way.
What he says we will do,
Where he sends we will go,
Never fear - only trust and obey.

And... my favorite lines from that song today:
But we never can prove
The delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay...

P.S. Most of the songs this week will be songs going through my head, not just random songs. But maybe you'll start singing them too. Or you can comment with your own favorite hymns. Maybe I'll sing them. :)

Tomato what?

KT stopped by between work and prayer meeting and we made tomato soup. We both had things on our mind, so it was fun to just mix tomato stuff and milk and use my garage sale whisk to mix it all up. Except we boiled it a little too long because my kitchen timer is already packed. So I think it's tomato glop instead. I haven't checked to see.

Jes is still staying with me at our old house. She'll be here until the 17th as she is helping our donor services department finish all the year end processing. Oh, and Renee (another recently graduated student) is also staying with us until she leaves the 17th. And Gen is a new staff person arriving on Thursday, but she doesn't have an apt yet, so she'll stay with us for the first week or so.

But they're moving the furniture out of the house on the 12th. or the 14th. We're not sure yet. Beds. Refridgerator. Chairs.

Lots of fun. Lots of packing between now and then. Anyone up for a packing party?

Waiting

I'm Waiting
I'm waiting on you, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on you, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait.

Decisions

There's been a few unexpected decisions this month. Nothing earth shattering - I'm still here at GFA. :) But still - enough to make me occasionally go, "God?!?" Right now, I have peace to go ahead with some things and peace to wait for God's timing on others.

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience.
While I'm waiting - I will serve you
While I'm waiting - I will worship
While I'm waiting - I will not faint
I'll be running the race - even while I wait.
John Waller © 2007 Travelin’ Zoo Music

Dreams

Watching the sunset tends to cause me to wax poetical. Or sentimental? Idealistic? Something. The sunset and wind in my face also make me want to dream of all the things I want to do - dreams of rafting the Grand Canyon and backpacking the Appalachian Trail and getting my motorcycle license (stop laughing!!!).

But I want my desires to match up with God's desires. I don't know what all those are yet and I definitely don't know His timing. And in light of God's desires, my dreams aren't really that important.

As I watched the sunset this evening, I once again told God that my life is His. It's not my own. And He can do what he wants with it. And it's okay.

Trust. Surrender. Submit.

Old Married Guys

It was a beautiful 70 degrees this morning with a high up close to 80. I did laundry. I don't put my jeans in the dryer, so winter days nice enough to hang my jeans on the clotheslines are greatly appreciated. Otherwise, the jeans get draped around the house. Then I feel bad for my roommates.

Today's soccer game was held in honor of Renee's birthday. (Happy Birthday, Renee!) I arrived just as they finished dividing teams. Reports Admin and Desktop Admin yelled for me to join their team, so I did. A goal and a few minutes later, Rich and his kids arrived. "Come over here, Rich," the guys yelled. "It's the old married guys against everyone else!"

What?!? Since when did I become an old married guy?