We returned from vacation and drove right to the church (before home even) to drop the kids at Kids Night Out. The welcome we recieved was wonderful, and the joy we felt, well, it was unmatched when we pulled into our garage later that evening. Our little condo is safe, clean, and comfortable, but it's truly not half the home that CT has been to us already. Leaving and returning to San Antonio just solidified that 'home' feeling I'd been missing. Doesn't God bless you like that sometimes?
We spent Saturday keeping house, doing laundry, and prepping for Sunday. Sunday, as we drove to church, our car began smoking. (maybe the 1800 mile trip had done it in?) Turns out, the air conditioning compressor had given out. It's the second time in just over two years. Further investigation realized that the repair was going to be $1852 plus tax. wow, right? So we'd just go without, it's not that hot... Nope, the thing runs on a serpantine belt, so it's all connected to the engine. The compressor will cease (I almost said freeze, but NO, it would never freeze here in South Texas, ha ha). In the midst of this storm, our sweet babysitter unknowingly threw the 'blind' lock on the front door, and our remote was in the car at the mechanic's, which was locked in a 6 foot barbed wire/chain link fence 10 minutes before we got there. So $200 to the locksmith later, we were in the house.
The beauty of this whole situation is that because of God and Dave Ramsey (not my brilliant financial planning) we had this money set aside in our emergency fund account. I was very not thrilled about spending it, but so thankful that it didn't have to go on a credit card. After tons of prayer and multiple phone calls to the Saturn repair center and the Saturn customer service center, they decided to fix it for the labor charge, and warranty the new compressor. So we squeaked away with a $360 repair, it never even touched our savings. Still an expensive week, but not at $2k week, and I'm in awe of God's hand in my life once again. Plus, we used it as an opportunity to share with our students. They prayed with us about the repair cost, and then rejoiced with us about God's provision. It was a really cool learning experience for all of us.
Also, I started working in the church office last week as a secretary. I can tell already that I'm absolutely going to love working there. We have a truly great staff and I'm so blessed to be a part of it.
On a more difficult note, my grandmother, Ann Marie, is slowly slipping into eternity. She's been diagnosed with brain cancer since April. The radiation treatments she did in May did not appear to fight it at all. My brave and strong mother has spent the last 3 months as her constant care giver. It's been so difficult to watch from a distance and feel so helpless. I've prayed and prayed and prayed some more. Sometimes I feel like I'm all prayed out. I know that God's will will ultimately be done. I just pray that my grandma knows Jesus the way I know Jesus. I feel a lot of regret about my less than relationship with her, and a lot of weak excuses like time and distant seem pretty trivial in the light of eternity. So I continue to pray for her, for my mom, for our family as we walk through this together. My grandma is 85, she's lived a long and happy life. I just pray that she truly knows the Lord, and that He would make her transition into the next life easy and painless. I pray that she knows how much I love her and that I wish we could have done things differently.
I'm continuing to work on my Berean Bible classes. I'm well over half finished with my first course, Synoptic Gospels. It's been so brain-expanding. I'm really in awe of all these areas of my life and the way God is circling them all together. I've experienced one other similar experience to this in my life; while I was in college, all my classes that semester seemed to flow into one another and I could literally feel my brain burgeoning to fit all the new information. I feel like that's once again doing in my life, using all these experiences, even the ebbing of my grandmother's life to teach me more about Him.
I cannot even begin to express to you how grateful I am for His Spirit. I encourage you, if you have not recieved the gift of the Holy Spirit, don't give up. If you haven't asked for it, DO. I feel like my life has been set on fire since April and my initial infilling. I say initial because I exercise this gift on a near daily basis. I can't begin to explain the peace that it brings me, and the power for Christian living and witness I feel when I exercise it. It's not a gimmick, it's not a fake, it's not silly. It's truly the supernatural in me and I am continually grateful for it. I can feel the annointing on my life growing daily and I am in awe... absolutely in AWE of God's inifinite power and wisdom and self-emptying love. Don't wait another day to ask Him to fill you, and then press in and wait for it. Believe for it. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is the best gift ever.
(photo taken September 2007 at the family cabin in Bemidji, MN)
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