Wisdom in the Darkness

Sometimes the Lord brings us into situations that are difficult to discern and that reveal our limited wisdom. Such was the case for me this past week. The Lord is gracious, though, and doesn't leave His children without direction. Even though His Word does not always address our specific situations, He does give us principles and truths from His Word that will help us make the right decision in accordance with His will - one that honors Him and loves others. As I searched through various passages that dealt with wisdom, discernment, pleasing the Lord, trusting the Lord and considering myself rightly (i.e. Psalm 3:5-6; Psalm 25; Romans 12; Phil 4:7-8), the Lord faithfully led me to a decision that I believe is His will. The tricky thing about following the Lord, though, is that I must seek His will continually. He leads His children for a while down on path then when it forks or that work or such finishes, He leads them down a different path. [This is not to say that God is wishy-washy. The Bible is clear that He never changes (Hebrews 13:8). His ways, however, are not ours and what may look like a change of mind to us are really the unveiling of His purposes that are far beyond what we can know or comprehend.] It is at these forks in the road and times of transition that He grows and strengthens our faith in Him. These times are not usually very pleasant, but when you look back on them, you can see the Lord's great wisdom, grace and sovereignty in bringing you through them. There are so many situations and unknowns right now in my life that remind me of my limited wisdom and my need for Christ. He is my Great Shepherd. Where He leads, I want to follow - no matter where that may be and no matter what the cost.

A neat thing that did happen in the midst of all this is how the Lord prepared me and my sister both for circumstances happening in each other's lives before we talked to each other. I sent her a vague prayer request via email and she sensed what it was about (and she was right). She left me a voice mail during our few days of phone tag that told me she wanted to tell me about something that had happened. When I heard this, I had "a feeling" of what she was going to tell me (and I was right). How cool is it that the Lord prepared us both in advance to hear the information we were about to receive from one another?

Switching gears: I am becoming increasing uncomfortable with being out by myself at night. I am not sure if this stems from my time in South Asia or if I am just growing out of my small-town-girl ignorance. Either way, I have become more aware of my surroundings as well as my own vulnerability as a female. The other night I broke my rule of not going to Wal-Mart after dark to pick up something. Now, the Wal-Mart I live by is down-right shady. Men seem to loiter there for no apparent reason. I usually try to avoid eye contact by looking at the ground and walk as quickly as I can to and from my car. The stares I receive there are equivalent to the stare-a-hole through you ones I received in South Asia (extremely creepy and uncomfortable). During this last trip to Wal-Mart (and I do mean last), I barely made it through the entrance when a man thought he'd take the opportunity to hit on me. [Eye roll.] I mean, can't a girl buy toilet paper in peace? [I would like to note that my trip ended on a higher note as I got to converse with the cashier who was from Nepal.]

Today, I got to spend the afternoon doing one of my favorite hobbies - photography. A friend of mine from church asked me to take pictures of her beautiful family to use for her Christmas cards. To top it off, my boss let me use her awesome Nikon D60 (thanks Michele!). These are some of my favorites: