i don’t understand theophany,

i don’t understand the miracle of the virigin birth,

i don’t understand all of the mechanics of christmas.

but i do understand something of the preciousness of a baby

and the hearts of new parents trying to figure things out.

two thousand years ago our God came down as man,

love came down to save us.

merry christmas.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”
Jack Kerouac

we’re hitting the home stretch and things are kind of getting overwhelming. we’re trying to figure out what we still want to do, and how we’re going to pack, and planning for when we’re home, and finishing up our final papers. and my roommate just got ringworm so we spent the day disinfecting the room.

so i’m ready for peace.

i can’t wait to sit and talk to my mom and my friends and watch old movies.

surrender

"You're my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps,
I want to hide in you.
I've put my life in your hands.
You won't drop me,
you'll never let me down.
I hate all this silly religion,
but you, God, I trust.
I'm leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
you saw my pain,
you disarmed my tormentors,
you didn't leave me in their clutches
but gave me room to breathe."
Psalm 31:3-8

we're at the Bible Institute- our home until we come home. home stays were a great experience, but i am so thankful for the quiet here.

everything is going faster then i thought it could.

prayer

I am going to break down some things that I need to talk about- the 1st is the power of prayer.
I don’t know a lot about prayer. I know that it’s utterly essential; I know that it’s communication with the almighty and I long for the day when it is the rhythm of my heart and brain and when I speak to God face to face for eternity. But I don’t know how it works, its exact biblical significance, or how things inside of me are set right because I sit with God.
But I have seen what it can do. God taught me a lot about intimacy in prayer before I left for Africa and moving through this trip being able to breathe in and feel His presence has kept me going. And I have seen prayer answered with incomprehensible power and might. One of our groups saw two boys without homes or families in need of protection from their own mother, taken in and being embraced by Christian families that will love and protect them. Another group saw a care center for people with AIDS in a community that desperately needs it spring up in a week. ONE WEEK. And I saw heart changes that were only possibly through the holy work of prayer. I saw subdued children flower and spring up in love and I saw doubts being thrown aside for trust in the sovereignty of the Lord. And He is not done. There is still work to be done in Mpophomeni, in those children, and in our hearts.
On my last day at the family center they gave us Zulu names and they named me Thandazile, which means one who prays. This has worked its way into my life and this identity urges me to cry out to the one that made me.
God answers prayer.
Wait and He will come, in all His overwhelming power and glory.