Perspective

I made my daughter cry on Thanksgiving. The permanence of our planned stay in Thailand became clear to her during our evening phone call. It made me sad to upset Amanda so much.

This was still on my mind Friday after I got the turkey cooking in Jennifer’s oven for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was a beautiful day so my husband suggested I take my run for the day. (Yes, he does make good suggestions sometimes) I decided to take an opposite route from the way I usually go from Jennifer’s and headed up to the left in conversation with God. Running along one straight, flat street I was praying about Amanda’s tears at our leaving and asking if we are really doing what He wants. Then I turned a corner to see the blue expanse of the sound under a blue sky with puffy clouds.
(Notice how the road disappears right after the white van)

I had never seen this view before, though I have run on that road several times. The view is at the top of a kind of hill I, as a runner, haven't learned to be thankful for yet. I still think of it as

tough to get through, or over. I rarely look back when I run, so I would always have remembered the hardness of that road rather than the beautiful view if I hadn’t gone that other way.

God used this to speak to my heart about His perspective on this coming sadness. Yes, this Leaving Time is hard, but He can see beauty in it from His viewpoint. Zech’s comment about “God is good” in their blog came back to me (reallifeontheedge.blogspot.com). He reminded me that God is good, all the time and everything He does is good, whether it seems that way to us or not. There is still the question of whether we are doing what God wants, but I see God leading us to Thailand as much as I have understood His leading at any other time in my life. That beautiful view at the right moment gave me reassurance and hope that His Good will come through this time of tears.

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.