More thoughts...

"And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night" (Nehemiah 4:9).

So I'm super tired and am not sure how much sense I'll be able to make out of my thoughts right now, but if I don't try now, I might lose them... so I shall try!

I continued on in Nehemiah today, and one of today's verses reminded me of yesterday's. Yesterday, I discussed how Nehemiah first prayed... and then said to the king. Prayer was just a crucial part of everything he did, and he didn't speak to the king without praying first. The verse from today in chapter four showed another instance of praying before acting. Israel's enemies were rising up against them as they tried to rebuild the wall... so while under this serious attack, Nehemiah and the people first prayed... and then set a guard for protection. Both parts were crucial. We should not pray without acting, leaving everything up to God, and taking no responsibility of our own. However, we should also most definitely not act without praying, presuming that any guard we could set up for protection would really protect us against our enemies without the hand of our God. So both are necessary, and I believe the Israelites had a pretty good order here... pray first, then act. They realized, as it says a few verses later, that "by ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall" (4:10). They were in dire need of the hand of God intervening as they were faithful to rebuild this wall. But then they also realized that they had to stand up and do their part... so they "labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other" (4:17). I love that picture too! That's how we need to live... laboring for Christ with one hand, and holding our weapons for this spiritual battle we are in with the other! So cool...

One other thing that really hit me from the chapters today was in Nehemiah 6:13. Nehemiah had just met with someone who had encouraged him to hide from his enemies in the temple. He "understood and saw that God had not sent him," but that he had been sent by the enemy. But listen to this verse: "For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me." How exactly like the enemy is that? He rationalizes sin to us--through fear, desires, or whatever other methods he can find--in order to make us stumble and then be able to taunt us! The enemy is ever so good at making sin seem wonderful at first... and then just as good at taunting us about our failures one second after we've given in. Knowing his tactics is so important in order to stand against them.

Alright, I've used up just about all of the mental capacity I have at the moment, so I certainly hope it made some sort of sense. His word is so beautiful, and I'm loving reading through it. I am so grateful for His love letter to us...

Brief thoughts from a worn traveler... ;)

"So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king..." (Nehemiah 2:4-5).

So I can't say that this verse has ever stuck out to me before tonight, but it definitely hit me when I read it this time. Nehemiah was in the process of grieving for his people, who had turned away from God, and the broken down wall of Jerusalem. He was cupbearer to the king, who noticed his grief and asked him what was wrong and what Nehemiah was requesting. The verses following these say that Nehemiah was "very much afraid." I suppose he was in a rather precarious situation, grieving over the state of his people--a people that was under captivity of the king with whom he was discussing the matter. But I love Nehemiah's response in this situation. When the king asked him what he was requesting, first, He "prayed to the God of heaven." Then, he "said to the king..." As I read these verses tonight, it just hit me that we should live life this way. No matter what we're facing, no matter how scared we are, no matter how much grief we're struggling with, no matter how immediately we need to respond to a situation, we can pray to our precious Father before and during facing each and every one of those situations. It doesn't say that Nehemiah left the room and fell on his face before God. Don't get me wrong, he had been doing that before this conversation ensued, so that is crucial for us to do. However, Nehemiah also prayed to God right then and there right as he faced the situation as well. God just needs to be this involved in our lives... or rather, we need to involve Him this much! He is so good... and He wants to be this involved. If you keep reading, you see how faithfully God answers those prayers Nehemiah lifted up to Him. Let's give Him the opportunity to show Himself so faithful in our lives as well as we seek His face, shall we? ;)

我的上帝在中国为我打架

Hello from China, Friends! I'm sorry I've done such a terrible job at keeping up with my blog since I left. Things have been pretty crazy since I've been here, and quite honestly I can't believe I've only been here a little over a week. It was one full week, that is for sure! I am trying to send out update e-mails on a somewhat more regular basis though, so if you want to be on that e-mail list, just let me know (supersieg@gmail.com)! I've sent out one update, which is probably more informative than this blog post will be, so I can pass that on to anyone who’s interested. But moving on...

So I was reading my Bible yesterday morning, and I came upon these two verses that really hit home for me:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles... (2 Chronicles 32:7-8)

Basically, I felt like these verses summed up my adventures here in China so far. For those of you who kept up with my posts before I left the states, you are well aware that I was 'just slightly terrified' about coming to China. I didn't know what to expect... but, at least during the times I was having a hard time walking by faith, I definitely expected to be a disaster here--missing everyone back home, facing loneliness, and just struggling through life in general. God was so patient with me as I tried trusting Him for His faithfulness on this adventure on which He was about to take me. At times, I really was able to rest in Him and trust Him for those promises. At other times, I just fell apart and reverted back to the former fear. All of that said about my fears and expectations for this move… God has been so incredibly faithful and gracious to me. The more I reflect back on my time here, the more awed I am by His faithfulness. He is so good! The only way I have known to 'attempt' to explain this to the people I've talked to back home is that I haven't really been 'me.' I am just naturally a very anxious person, it takes me a long time to adjust to new things, I have a hard time getting to know people and being myself around people I’ve just met, etc. Yet somehow, that girl is not the girl that has been settling into life here in China. Don’t get me wrong… this has all been very out of my comfort zone, and this experience has been stretching me for sure. However, somehow I don’t ‘feel’ that stretched, and I have actually been rather loving and enjoying life here. Instead of being a nervous wreck about all of the training and teaching we were immediately thrown into—having to act completely ridiculous and teach in front of tons of Chinese parents and their kids and my co-workers and trainers and other trainees—I’ve just kind of… done it… without too much of a problem. I’ve also been able to, for the most part, just be myself around many of the new people I’ve met here… instantly clicking with many of them and foreseeing some really awesome friendships. Figuring out life without knowing the language is challenging as well, but I’ve just stepped out and done whatever I’ve needed/known to do, figuring it out as I go. Looking back over these last few sentences, I noticed a lot of ‘I’s’ when, in reality, God has to be doing all of this. That really is the only way I know how to explain it. Before coming here, God told me not to remember the former days—the days when I struggled through new things and lived in defeat for so long before He helped me rise above. He told me that He wanted to do something new… and all I know to say now is that… He really really has. He has done a beautiful new work in me. He is rising above my “arm of flesh” and fighting this battle for me—giving me victory in ways I’ve never experienced before. I am so grateful. I don’t know what this next year holds in store for me. I don’t know what battles I will face. I don’t know what plans the enemy has in store for me. But I do know now more than ever before that I can “be strong and courageous…not…afraid or dismayed…” and that “there are more with us than with…the horde that is with” the enemy. “With us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” God told me again and again before I came here that He was fighting for me. Sometimes I believed Him, and other times I didn’t know how to believe Him for that when I felt so defeated. But He has shown me just how much He meant that and how faithful He is to really fight for me. His words are more real than ever before: “I will never leave you nor forsake you”…even in China…so, even in China, I “can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me” (Hebrews 13:5-6)? Nothing... not when my God is fighting for me.

Wiser Words :)

So it seems my blog is becoming more full of other people's words than my own... but that might not be a bad thing... becauuuse, I would argue that other people have some much wiser things to say than what would be flowing from my fingertips at this point. So I shall again share something I just read that really encouraged me. Hope you enjoy. :)

Good things are ahead for you this week!

Posted: 29 Aug 2011 07:03 AM PDT

I open my email. I glance over my to-do list. I look at the appointments on my calendar.
It seems like it will be an ordinary week.
And yet...
Something inside me, something inside you, longs for extraordinary.
I tend to think that those kind of moments just aren't part of our day-to-day.
What if it's more that I'm not always looking for them?
Or that I sometimes rush past them even when they're in my path?
I think of the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses is in the middle of the desert tending sheep, the equivalent of being in the middle of a work day for us today. Yours might happen in a cubicle in your kitchen with toddlers around your feet, in an airport.
And right there in the middle of that ordinary, God shows up. 
I love what comes next...
"When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush...." Exodus 3:4 
When Moses stopped to pay attention.
When he took time to notice the extraordinary.
When he turned aside from his to-do list...God changed everything. 
Yes, there are seasons when we're simply called to be faithful, to do the simple and even unnoticed. But you just never know when it's going to be your time for a burning bush moment. You never know when God is going to step in and do the gloriously unexpected. We don't have to make it happen. We only have to be watchful and then willing.
It makes me smile to write these words.
Because our burning bush might be just around the corner. 
Maybe today.
Maybe tomorrow.
Let's keep watching, keep waiting--God has more than we can even imagine ahead!