Quote for the Night

"Not once in the next billion years to come will you regret that which you did not do for yourself because you cared for someone who was in need, someone who needed to grow in the ways of the Lord. What we will regret is that which we did not spend because we weren’t living as though the Samaritan was really coming back.

The Lord has entrusted to you more than enough to take care of the half-dead people who come our way. The question is, will you release what He’s given you?

Will you let it go?

Will you make the time?

Will you expend the energy?"

-Jon Courson

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1 January 2010

"Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him."
Oswald Chambers

I am so looking forward to the future....to all that the Lord has in store for me in 2010....2009 was amazing, such a journey, full of ups and downs and surprises! I began the year in Cali and ended it here in my beloved Romania. Ironically enough, both January in Cali and December in Romania have been pretty warm...not as much snow as I had been promised by everyone, but that's ok, it has been beautiful none the less.

I spent the evening with friends last night just hanging out, eating and playing games, then watching the fireworks over the city from my friend's balcony. It was beautiful and memorable. This year has once again fit perfectly with Proverbs 16:9,

"A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps."

My days have been full of my plans....and the Lord has taken those plans and molded them to His own...when I moved to Brasov in March, I never thought I would be working so much with teen Roma (gyspy) girls, but the Lord opened up that door and it has been great. It was also cool to see how the Lord answered my heart's desire to work with the elderly by giving me an elderly neighbor to spend time with!

Such a big part of being a missionary is relationships. I think people get it all wrong when they try to make the big part about a program....or doing doing doing....the Romanian people are a culture of "being"...they like to hang out, they want a friend, they want to know you are not just some American coming in with your ideas to "fix" the "poor Romanians" but that you are here to love them and be there for them. Being light and salt in the world is just that...being a friend, being there and having a real relationship with people.....something that will make a lasting impression.

Well anyway, it's a new year...2010...I can't believe that....I am not really a "goal" person...so I have no new year's resolutions....other than to continue following my Savior wherever He may lead me, to be obedient to His Word and to grow in my relationship with Him....I think everything else will find it's place in my life if I seek Him first.

Happy 2010 friends.

xo



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