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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I am a terrible blogger.



I am going to try harder. And I am going to do better. This blogging has just not happened lately. My sister was here the last week in February and brought me my new MacBookPro (which is beautiful by the way). And then I just didn't feel like I had anything to talk about. Volleyball has been frustrating recently because we have lost 3 in a row. We beat the last twoteams we just lost to in the first half of the season so it was not good for us to lose to them in the second half. We are currently tied for 8th place in the league and we have to be in the top 8 in order to make it to the playoffs. Butas you can see 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th place are all really close together in points.
When my sister came to visit we had an absolute BLAST! She flew into Paris (yes a direct flight from Boston-sooo lucky) and then took the train all by herself to Calais. Calais is Northwest France as close as you can get to England. She saw our match against Calais and then she came back with us on the train on Sunday. We hung out in Nantes Sunday afternoon until Friday. I took her to all of my favorite places and showed her around the city. She has about 100 espresso's while she was here and she claims they just taste sooo much better here. I wouldn't know since it is my goal in life not to get addicted to coffee. Then Friday after practice we headed to Paris for the weekend! It worked out perfect because we happened to have one of our very few free weekends while she was here. We saw all the sit
es in Paris Friday night and Saturday. And we even had time for some shopping :). I was so sad when she had to leave Sunday morning because we had the best time. But I stayed in Paris an extra day and a half which was nice. I was finally able to explore a little on my own and see some of the not super touristy spots. I went to Hillsong Paris for church Sunday morning and I'm not going to lie, but I was in tears the whole time. I haven't gotten to worship God with a group of believers like that is a very very long time. It was so great and I was completely in awe of how God used the sermon to speak to my heart. The sermon was about Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27. The pastor pointed out a few things that have stuck with me since:
  • We are going to go through storms in our life.
  • While they were in the storm, the tied ropes around the boat to hold it together, they lowered the anchor, and they threw some of their cargo overboard. When we are going through storms in our out life, we have friends who can help hold us together. I am so thankful for my wonderful friends who have stayed close by me through any storms I have faced here in France so thank you. Also, they lowered the anchor. When going through a storm, we need to anchor ourselves in God's truth. I want no one else to be my anchor except for the Lord. And thirdly, they threw some cargo off the ship to make the load lighter. I need to ask myself sometimes what do I need to get rid of or what is getting in the way of my walk with the Lord. There are very good questions to constantly be asking!
  • God spoke to Paul DURING THE STORM. And what did he say? "Do not be afraid." Those simple words are spoken over and over again in the Bible but yet I still fear. I think that I just need listen while I am in the storm instead of trying to control and fix everything myself. Because God definitely has it under control and will figure things out wayyy better than I will ever be able to.
  • The storm lasted a really long time- 14 days. Even though God spoke to Paul, He didn't stop the storm right then and there. There were even days when the sun or the stars never appeared. Can you imagine total darkness for days? During storms in our lives, we must be confident that God who began a good work in our lives will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus (Phil 1:6). I often get so eager to have the storm end and end right now that I forget to see how God is trying to equip me or sanctify me.
This was a very very encouraging sermon for me. When my sister hopped on the plane earlier that morning I so wanted to go with her. I wanted to go back to America and see my family and my friends and eat Mexican food. But this sermon just really reminded me that France is where I am supposed to be. Personally, I have grown so much while being in France and I continue to pray that God will use me in the lives of other to help build his Kingdom. But I must also remember that God doesn't need me. I am humbled at the thought that He would use me! :)

So, my days have had ups and downs. But I am constantly holding on to the ONE that will be the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and forever. Because that is all I have and all I need!



1 comment:

  1. LOVE your post....sorry it took too long to get to read it!!! BIG HUGS from LEX and hope to see you soon....btw, Em's personality is SO OUT THERE....Bren need some of YOU in her life and Crosby's hair and cute-ness continue to grow (plus he is full of bruises from his new trial sport- ice hockey)!
    love ya
    mer

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