God Is Faithful

Once again, I'm writing about experiences from a long, long time ago. So I hope that you don't get confused since this is old... One day, I will catch up and you will be able to read about current happenings for me in Tchad. But for now, I figure any news is good news.

September 20
I can't even begin to write down all the ways that God has been faithful to me since I've been here. But I wanted to write down a few specific things that have happened so that you can see how God is working.

The first has to do with my devotions. I really felt impressed to read in Hebrews, so I did. I don't think God could have chosen a better book for me to read at the beginning of my time here. One day in particular I was really not wanting to be here; as soon as I woke up, my first thought was, "I don't want to be here. I want to go home." That morning I read Hebrews chapter 6. All of it was encouraging, but verses 10-12 really gave me the strength to hold on. It says:

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

That's certainly not been the only time I've felt God's providence in my devotions, but it's one that I wanted to share.

Another small way that God was good to me has to do with the weather. It's rainy season right now (well, it was in September), so it rains quite a bit. One morning I was going to take my shower, and I could see storm clouds and hear thunder. I said a quick prayer asking God to hold off the rain until I was done with my shower because it was already cold (yes, it gets chilly here) and I didn't want my clothes to get wet. It wasn't until I had just finished my shower that I began to feel little raindrops heralding the storm that broke loose not five minutes later.

I mentioned before that there was one day that I really didn't want to be here... Well, there have actually been quite a few of those days (there were at the beginning anyway). It's not always even because life is hard or different here; some days I just wake up and don't want to be here. Other days I have reasons for not wanting to be here. But whatever the reason (or lack of reason), I try to pray for strength and encouragement. And God always comes through. He always gives me something to turn the day around and to give me perseverance.

One day I was irritated because my French was still not very good. The language barrier makes the other nurses not trust me (not really a problem anymore), and it makes everything more difficult. That morning, one of the nurses I was working with, Samedi, told me out of the blue that my French was getting better. And recently, several of the other nurses have told me the same thing. It's very encouraging to hear.

My French is still improving, and I think it might be a process that continues until I leave here. But lately I've been able to have mini conversations with people that I work with, and as I've gotten to know them a little better, it's given me more reason to want to stay. So as you can see, God has been good to me. And this is just a small sampling of his faithfulness.

God is so good, God is so good
God is so good, He's so good to me

*Post note: This was something I wrote in my journal a long time ago. Since then, God has proven faithful in even more ways, my French has
gotten much, much better, and I've come to love the people here. I work with some really amazing people, and I love the family that I live with. I have truly enjoyed getting to know the people here, and as much as I know I will love going home, I know that when I leave Tchad, I will miss each of the people here so very much. I've been able to have good conversations with a lot of the people and have made a lot of friends here. It seems like everywhere I go in this life, I will always be missing someone dear to me. I can't wait for the day when we can all go to heaven to live together forever, and I will never have to miss anyone again. Come quickly, Lord.

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"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." ~Hosea 2:14