question

i think i might have blogged about this before, but i'm experiencing a dilemma...

...nose ring or no nose ring?

ok, NOT like this

more like this

thoughts?

overwhelmed

dictionary.com defines this word as

1. To surge over and submerge; engul.
2. To present with an excessive amount

yes, yes. this word has described my year.

• i have been overwhelmed with school. multiple books, lots of tests, lots of skills, lots of drama. many times i have had to stop and cry because there was just too much to do.
• i have been overwhelmed with friend-ishness. I had some friend issues which did get resolved-PTL. moreover, my friends blow my mind every day with their love and grace. i started reading "what's so amazing about grace?" this semester, and it opened my eyes to see the "small" graces that happen everyday, (i know, sad days it wasn't the Bible that did that).
• i struggled with God and it has been very overwhelming.
  
• i have been overwhelmed by my residents. i set such high goals and while don't always communicate these to my residents, they forgive me when i don't go to their concerts or bridal showers. i have learned so much from them. thanks girls. your love has meant SO much this year.
• these last few weeks South Asia has added to the heap because now i have to be responsible for my own trip. i also realized how unintentional with God i was being up to that point, so uh, yeah. i know high school leaders and youth pastors would always say "if you have to make time for God that's a bad sign," but i feel the opposite way. I feel that if we purposely schedule time with God, like anything person, then we will be more intentional. i mean, we have to be open to the idea that God is God and He can bust in and meet us in another time, but common. (maybe i should have written a separate blog...)
  

ultimately, each of these things has been such a reflection of the glorious grace of the Father. seriously....i went to write i sentence, but too overwhelmed was i to even write anything. yes, i am tired, (sick and tired), of school and tired of having "ra" plastered behind my name, but oh how great God has been this year to give me the privilege to learn and to invest small moments in wonderful women of God. How great God will continue to be as we go out from here and we get involved in His work among the nations.

AHHH! overwhelmed! get it!?

the trip

for more trip updates go here.

please be sensitive, words wise, if leaving comments :)

the getting of going

i loving the going. i love being there and i love the traveling, but man, the planning is a pood.

still i wait for a plane ticket and visa; i feel like i'm going to pee my pants because it's so close! one month! i leave in one stinkin month. do visas come that quickly? i dunno. i feel like not. now the plane tickets have already gotten more expensive since last week, (okay like two hundred dollars, but still!).

psalm 27:13-14 says
"I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD."

and the ever-popular isaiah 40:28-31 says
"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

i'm waiting. most of the time i'm not waiting in the confidence of the Lord, (as evidence by urge incontinence...well, not fully incontinence-just the urge part). prayer would be super. God has always proven Himself faithful, yet i seem to forget that in the moment by moment of living. i am butt-tired, but how faithful is God to get me up each day and to prove that He is in control. i want to run to india, but man, the waiting.

time to go

after struggling a lot with my family and mostly myself, i'm going to South Asia. excitement does nothing else except consume me. i cannot wait to see the work of the Father and how he uses our team to further His work!

your prayers would be much coveted, ( i never understood this. aren't we not supposed to covet?).

• -i leave in 38 days and need to raise approx. $4,000 in total. the Father is too good and i trust His provision, but you asking on my part won't hurt any!
• -a visa. i also need to get a visa within the next 38 days. please ask for favor with gov't.
• -the fam. they are not too pleased, but once again, the Father is amazing and He is already making a way for me to get to South Asia, one step at a time.
• -the team. i have NO IDEA who they are. ask that we will be united in the bond of the Son.
• -ultimately, the people we will encounter. ask for broken hearts and opportunities that we will boldly take.

thank you, love you, and can't wait to tell you more! (which you know is so true!).

random moments

today has been full of 'em.

• i was walking from the cottages to manda's and the flowers smelt of marigold. so basically of india.
• i picked my car up from the shop today and after telling the mechanic that i take good care of my car, i proceed to drive over the curb.
• i was sitting on my porch just chillin' and johnny walked up. my first thought: "oh no! we're gonna be even!" cindy, you haven't had to worry about being for three years now, calm yourself.
• i told a random girl coming to look at the cottage that i liked her shirt. it was cute

that's all. it was surprisingly more random than usual.

trilok puri

trilok puri

help India by helping to build the future in this slum village.


ask me if you have any more questions.

a must read

my friend Justine posted this on her blog and i felt inclined to share it. the site is called hall of shame and it informs its readers of the companies that stilll insist on using sweat shop labor.

i wasn't going to post anything, being hard-hearted, but then i saw India. Gap Kids makes its close in New Delhi in sweatshop forcing its workers to work 16-hour days. i don't understand. americans would surely not allow people in america to be treated like the people in sweat shops are treated in other countries, so why do we stand for it? is it an act of racism? i don't think i can blame it on ignorance; we all know sweat shops exist. maybe it's another example of how morality is being pushed down, pushed down for something seemingly greater right? our selves.



don't misunderstand. i too have bought from these stores, but oh, why do i go back? is it really worth saving the two dollars on that shirt and in my rich american wallet or is it far better to be informed and seek out the things of God, even when i shop?

RENT

i have an obsession with this movie. worldly to its core, a movie reflecting on new york in the late 1980s. the music is amazing, but this isn't why i love it. let me unfold it for you.

-mark, the nerdy, white, straight man in the movie is my favorite character. i love him dancing and getting upset during most of the movie. i love his geeky mannerism and such. i wish i was him. at, he reminds me of me...? at least a cooler me.

-there's a song that is song during a life support group. the lyrics include "There's only us; There's only this; Forget regret or life is yours to miss; No other road, No other way, No day but today." oh how sad. the focus is on something so different Christ and it breaks my heart!

-the music is wonderful. what talent to write the show and then to perform it. how sad, once again, that the people writing and performing do not know Jesus and the talent giving to them from God (that they don't even know is from Him) is going to something else. it is not being used to fully glorify Him. okay, i know i don't fully glorify God in every moment, but i hope i can learn to change.

this movie is a picture of lostness. this is my obsession. i hope that people will clearly see what a life not founded in Christ will lead to. forgive me for the harshness, but please understand that i mean it in so much love and with so much heavy-heartedness for people living in darkness. hopefully this will open your eyes to view movies differently.

not so familiar scripture

some scripture that has been rocking my world:


Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied

Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Philippians 3:10-11
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Psalm 73:25-28
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.


so familiar, yet may it not grow common in me. may Christ and His love and His Word be renewed daily.

life update

"randomly" the other i decided to apply to go to south asia this summer. i did and am waiting to hear back from the imb. i would SO covet your prayers as i await to hear from them and am challenged with telling my parents about this decision, (yes, i know. i'm in a deep hole.)

God has given me so much and enabled me with so much. how dare i sit back and boast about another summer that may never come. the harvest is plentiful NOW and the workers are needed NOW, so, i go NOW. i don't want this place and the gospel just to be another idea and philosophy that i theorize about all day. as the modern day philosophers dc talk said "love is verb." i must act on the love that Christ has first shown me and that i so desire to pour out in return and obedience.

hopefully, updates soon...

India (what else).

"India is the country with the greatest concentration of lostness."


yes, it one of the biggest countries in the world, but catch it. said it again in your head. India is truly a place desperate for the truth of the gospel. oh that we would grasp this and that we would be brought to our knees. and then, that Christ would give us legs to run and utter truth from every ounce of our being.