Tonight I got to Skype with my bible study group from Scottsboro. It felt like being at home again! It's nice just to discuss the Word with others. We each have out our different translations and read (tonight we were reading Hosea) and discuss what our commentaries say, things that are different in each translation and things that are the same, and how we see God moving in the text and how we see the carry-over into the New Testament. I finally feel like I'm back on my feet a little bit. I can see parallels within the OT and the NT. Prophesies of Christ. God calling for compassion and love rather than sacrifice. Without love, there is NOTHING. I can't believe how obvious that is in all the scripture I've read so far, old and new testament. I feel like slowly, I'm learning how to read the Bible.
Tomorrow night I'm going to a Ladies Bible Study at the church I sometimes attend in Madison. I'm excited about that. The pastor is leaving for Africa this week to help dig some wells for 37 villages. That speaks to my heart in so many ways. I can't wait to go to Uganda. I can't wait to see what THEY can teach me and how I can serve them.
Lent update: My fingertips have callused since I'm playing guitar again. I've almost mastered Ode to Joy. Ha! It's pretty simple, though. My goal is to be able to play a worship song by the end of Lent. If I keep to my goal of practicing for 30 minutes every day, I should be able to. My current Lent anthem is "At the Cross" by Hillsong. It prepares my heart for meditation on the journey to the crucifixion. Maybe I'll try to play that song on guitar.
An update on my Radical experiment:
1) On day 8 of Prayer for the World. This has been SO enlightening. OperationWorld.org is an amazing resource. I thought with all the advances in civilization and technology that all people would have been reached by missionaries by now, but no, far from it. I definitely want to spend time in some of these countries to help the impoverished, desolate, and unreached. Brazil and Botswana have both really stuck out in my mind.
2) I'm almost through 1 Corinthians. In Chapter 11, when Paul talks about women covering their heads...I almost died. But all my commentaries claim it was culturally and contextually specific. I don't know. I don't especially want to cover my head. I finished Chapter 13 tonight about the Gift of Love. WHAT AN AMAZING GIFT! How we could shake the world if everyone participated in that sort of pure, God-given love. I love love.
3) Friday was pay-day. I've designated part of my paychecks (which are bi-weekly) to whatever Christian-based activity/charity/etc I feel convicted to at the time. Last paycheck I gave part to SIFAT which is the organization that funds the orphanage I will be working at in the summer of 2014. This paycheck, after watching the pastor's video of those villages getting wells with clean drinking water, I gave some funds to him to use for those villages they will be working with in Africa. Money is still my most difficult asset to part with, not because I'm materialistic but because I worry that I won't have any if something happens. (which is exactly why it's important to do so, because it shows that I trust in God, yeah yeah I get it). I give with LOVE.
4) I'm joining a bible study in Madison. That's a first step.
5) Got news that the director of the orphanage has been contacted about my coming to work there in the summer of 2014. Meeting with my pastor and others who have been to the orphanage to set up a time-table for when I need to get shots, what I need to purchase, what I need to leave at home, etc. I'm hoping I'll still be capable with my guitar, and I can take it with me to play for the kids! Music touches my heart, so I want it to touch others' as well.
"Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." Psalms 51: 11-12
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