Miracles

How often do you go to Board meetings to hear miracles? That’s what we heard at the meeting of This Gracious Work foundation last Thursday. Janis came excited to tell about hers.

“The doctor said the radiation would only stop the growth of my spleen, but now it is only 11 cm, when before it was 18 cm.”

“Wow, about half!” members responded.

“Here is the school license,” stated Bill as he pulled out an official looking document.

The board was praying to get that license after the last meeting. They also set $70 thousand as the amount Bill would need to raise before breaking ground on the new school. He hoped to have that amount within a month so he could take it on his next trip to Thailand. He reported that he had $90 thousand before he left and the school project was started.

He also had a need of a few thousand to pay tuition for the last semester of some of the students they support. The members offered different amounts they had available, and in 5 minutes the need was met.

All this came on the heels of our own meeting with our tenant. The day before we had realized that if the tenant took over all our building space as planned, it’s increase in utility payments would be more than what it’s President told us she could afford. I asked for prayer for guidance in writing a statement to explain that to her and also for preparation for a meeting with her. Our meeting went amazingly well. It was as if we had reached agreement on the problem areas before the meeting started.

The week started with our Pastor’s wife announcing they had bought a house. That was an answer to the prayers of several of us for about 4 years. Sometimes I wondered why they still had to live in the little rental. Now that it has happened, the timing and location make sense.

All this gives me hope that some of the other situations I am praying for will work out as well. Once again it is a matter of remembering the goodness of God and His promise to work out everything for my good as I obey Him. It’s much harder to see a miracle when you are in the middle of it than when it is finished.

“Do they wear uniforms at the school?” asked Jane.

“Do they have pandas there? I like pandas,” said Emily.

The third graders were answering my request for questions for us to answer in our presentation to their school about our going to Thailand. Earlier that week, I was struggling with getting it written.

“What do I put in this that will interest them as well as inform them of how we believe God is leading us, “ I wondered. “And what pictures do I have to go along with it?”

Then the principal called to ask me to substitute in that class on Friday. I gladly took the opportunity and decided to ask those students for questions they might have. Helen and Chloe continued the theme of comparing the Thai school to theirs.

“Do they use slates with slate pencils? Do they have desks like ours?” they asked.

Their questions showed me they are interested in information that relates to their school experience. The pictures I have of the Ban San Faan classrooms should be good for that.

Then I remembered taking pictures of the Ban San Faan children playing a couple of games familiar to students here. Those also might spark interest.

(Here they are playing 4 posts the way children here play 4 corners. Sarah will choose a post number, without looking, and the children at that post will be "out")

The class showed interest in my comments about the Thai language, too. We were correcting run on sentences that day.

“A sentence is even more important in Thai because they don’t put spaces between their words, only between their sentences,” I told them. Then they wanted a demonstration. Later, they paid close attention when I taught them how to count in Thai with Thai numbers. Amy’s request to see some Thai writing related to this interest. Roman tied his language curiosity with his courtesy when he asked for the Thai words for “Thank you”.

Thomas didn’t make a request, but he showed his interest by drawing my head on a dollar bill. It’s an amazing likeness, don’t you think? (I did have my hair up that day and my nose is almost non existent, isn't it?) I will include a little information about the Thai Baht for him. I’m sure he doesn’t know that they only put royalty on Thai money and high government officials on dollars. Then, again, I am a child of the King.

:J

I've come to another kind of packing away this week; this time upon conviction from a passage by C. S. Lewis. It came up in the daily reading for August 31 and it took about a week to strike home. He talks about forgiving others, not just excusing them, which sometimes we take for forgiving. He is discussing people trying to forgive by thinking out a way the person really didn't do the bad thing they want to forgive them for. When they can't quite make those excuses, "They keep on replying, 'But I tell you the man broke a most solemn promise.' Exactly: that is precisely what you have to forgive. (This doesn't mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart--every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.)"

As C. S. Lewis has done before, he has gotten to the heart of my behavior. Most of the time I have tried to forgive by finding excuses for what someone has done to me rather than forgive the central hurtful action. Also I have found myself wanting to "get back" at people and waiting to have revenge when something doesn't work out right for someone else's plan. I've been hoping that they will see that they shouldn't have pushed my ideas out of the way to start with.

So, this week I realized I have packed away some resentment. I have had to let go of those desires to be proved right and my efforts to do so. I also have become aware of my need to forgive right away after an event rather than dwelling on it for awhile. The only dwelling I should do is on figuring out a boundary to keep me from letting the same person do the same thing to me again. Realizing this is easier than accomplishing it. At least God can help me move in the right direction from here as I pray and you pray for God to do so.

( The C. S. Lewis passage quoted in my devotional is "On Forgiveness" from The Weight of Glory)

Packing

Will I want my jingle bells in Thailand?

I started packing up my sewing things today, putting my fabric, craft tools, and sewing accessories away for perhaps years. Will I ever sew again? I haven’t for a few years, but somehow it seemed like I might when the things were out and ready for use.

Other things have to be packed too. What do we really need for the next couple of months? It seems so final to be putting things away. The house looks empty with bare cupboards and walls.

Gary keeps saying, “Well, I guess that’s the last time we’ll be doing that!” as we participate in some of our regular activities here.

In this process I also found a little book my daughter, Amanda, gave me a few years ago called The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper. (Finding missing things is one positive to packing up) Rereading it, I am challenged to find delight in the Lord and what He asks me to do. He is telling me to look ahead to what good He is doing in my life, to the adventure He is calling me to. This packing is for the purpose of going somewhere else. I know that staying here, out of His will, would be worse than this packing and leaving my ties here. I need to focus on the opportunities He’s giving us in Thailand. He is also showing His goodness to me through the packing process. We ran out of tubs Tuesday, then Wednesday a friend brought over nine more that she said they were done with. PTL! (and thank you, Pam)

Then, also, it really isn’t as final as it all seems.

I decided to pack away my jingle bells, but I marked the tubs and put them on the storage list. If I realize I could use them after teaching for a year, I can come get them on our home visit.