I have nothing special to say at the moment except that I feel extremely blessed. Tonight, walking home from church I was overwhelmed with how much God has blessed me. Beyond all the obvious (a relationship with Him, grace for my ridiculous self, etc.) He has placed me here in this season to live a pretty sweet life. Here are the blessings I see in my life: 1. I am living in the country I love. There are definite moments when I get frustrated, but ever since I first came to Chile, I have considered this country my own. I waited for 4 years for God to open the door to return here and now I get to live here for a loooooooooong time! 2. I have an awesome apartment. Really, my apartment is so comfortable. I've lived in so many places and the last few years I've begun to feel the need to "nest" and here I have it! I have a beautiful apartment and I love spending time in it. 3. I have a wonderful church! We are by no means perfect- and we know it! But we are striving to live out the gospel, to live a life worthy of the gospel, to serve one another. I am so blessed by the conversations that go on in our bible studies. 3a. I have an awesome pastor. My pastor Cristobal is really a gift from God for me. From him, I learn not only about the bible, but this guy has some serious gifts in leading groups of people. There are NUMEROUS times in our small group that someone says something that makes me think, "oh my goodness, how would I respond to that question/comment?" and I have learned so much from him in how to lead people. SO much. 4. I have a good job that offers a great schedule and the work isn't too bad. It's not what I LOVE doing (which is theology in both the academic and practical sense) but it's not too bad teaching English. I work for a quality institute and in a fun environment so I have no complaints. 5. I have always been drawn to various very diverse ministries. Orphans, women stuck in the sex industry, the gay/artist community, university students. And here I find that I have the opportunity to work in so many ways. In my church, I'm going to start teaching two of the younger girls (well, same age as me but younger in their faith) how to study the bible. This honestly is a dream come true. I moved into a building that is full of prostitutes. Little did I know that God was going to give me such an awesome place to minister. I live in this building with them. I take the elevator with them, deal with the same street noise, and when the elevator is broken we climb the stairs together. The the next building over, there are tons of peruvian immigrants. They are like the bottom of society. They come here, often illegally, to take the lowest jobs, for the lowest pay. And I get to live with them! I get to live here and be a part of these peoples' worlds. This is the kind of stuff that I dream about when I hear about people serving in different parts of asia or Africa. And I have it! Here! In Santiago. 6. I can see the Lord changing me each and every day, making me more and more like His son Jesus. I can feel Him ripping away my idols, one by one (and Lord knows I have a lot!) He is so faithful to me and He hasn't abandoned me at all. He has brought me here and is teaching me that "to live is Christ" means that I am alive to serve. My time, my money, everything in my life is for His purposes. What grand thoughts. And while I still spend a good amount of my life being self centered and selfish, I know that He is working in me His good and perfect will. AMEN! So yeah, these are the reasons I feel so very blessed right now.
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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