Gulping Air

Wow.

 

Just wow.

 

Christmas on the mission. This week has blown my socks off.

 

Highlights:

 

*Singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing as a duet in German and Arabic (please see video)

*Teaching a lesson to two amazing Chinese girls, using pictures, German, English, hand motions, and google translate.

*Eating very very very German food like everyday this week.

*Christmas Miracles pouring down like rain... or rather like snowflakes.

*Tangerine cream cheese frosting on Christmas sugar cookies. That takes the cake. #terriblepun

 

I love that Christmas comes every year. I love that good things repeat, giving us second chances to enjoy them more. I am also so incredibly glad that hard things repeat too.

 

I was recently reading in Ether in the Book of Mormon. God asked the people of Jared and his brother to cross the ocean in tightly-built barges.

 

Once the Brother of Jared procured lights they were ready to go.

 

I love this verse.

 

5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

...therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

 

Think about it. You're in this barge made of wood, and it basically acts like a fish, so you're sometimes on the water, just under the surface, and sometimes shark-level deep, and the entire time, your only source of fresh air is this hole in the top of the barge.

 

I realized that every time they wanted fresh air, they would have to "cry unto the Lord" so that when they unscrewed the top that it would be air and not water that came pouring in.

 

God tried them again and again. They had to have faith for the very air they breathed.

 

Talk about a growing opportunity!

 

The it made me think about the mercy of God,mans His desire to show miracles to all of us, and I wondered how that could be.

Then this hit me.

 

They had the opportunity to ask in faith every time they needed air, and see it fulfilled.

 

The beauty of being tested and challenged is the increase of opportunities we have in seeing God's promises fulfilled. This is one way that challenges are actually blessings. He is giving us the means by which we can receive evidence.

 

God is all about the evidence.

Are we really ready to receive the answers?

 

I think one of the greatest challenges in this area is waiting upon the Lord's timing. To trust that there will be enough "air" for us, so we don't feel like we have to gulp it down every time we break the surface.

 

I challenge you all to look for the evidence this week. Look for the proof, the reason, and the meaning behind what you are experiencing.

 

I love you all!

 

Sister Roderer