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Hey friends! Thought I’d switch up my newsletter, and start with ministry updates, praises, and prayer requests. What the Lord has been teaching me is after. :)
Ministry Updates:
the FEU has hosted a couple of fun outreach nights such as an improv night, Easter night, and hockey night. (I sadly missed a few as I was sick). But heard lots of great things and two of my friends were able to truly share the Gospel with someone who has been coming to the FEU for a while now
Younglife has been a blast as always. Be praying for next steps as they want to split into a Wyldlife and Young life club, it’s just finding the physical meeting space and people to make that split possible
Students from the FEU ministry led a service at a church up in the mountains last Sunday. It's cool to see this team of young people so eager to use their gifts for Jesus.
Prayer Requests:
My thesis! I am so nervous about how it is all coming together as I have less time because I am leaving mid-May. (It is due May 1st and then I will have my defense before I leave.) I have a good plan set out but am struggling with getting my thoughts out, so thank you for your prayers for inspiration and clear thinking.
Please text me if you’d like his name, but for the past few months a man from India has been coming to the FEU. It's a prickly and sensitive situation: he's a bit out of place in a student ministry as he’s older and cultural differences/unintended actions can make some of the women uncomfortable. We’re honestly not sure how he is living here: he doesn’t even have a dollar to spare for our food bank. He’s so lonely, and does not have any community. Please be praying for him, as well as what it looks like to love him! Praying for other places he can join in (he’s still not very open to church.)
My school friends (again, text me if you’d like their names)
My pastor and his family: that the Lord would continue to bless his home (they have been such a huge part of my community here - and they live just down the street!)
Praises!
One of the full time staff members at the FEU got married this past weekend! It was really sweet to see this community come together to support their marriage.
SO excited about this one. In one of my newsletters from last fall, I mentioned to be praying for someone who was interested in the Christian faith. He was no longer a student, so he began going to another ministry geared towards adults. Last week, I received a message from him saying that he is getting baptized!!! He said that he wanted to let me know as I was one of the first Christians he had talked to, and that, "it was the spirit and joyfulness I found in all you Christians I know that finally led me to Him." 🥹 When I shared this with my roommate I started tearing up. It is just so exciting to see someone being welcomed into the arms of Jesus, the joy of Jesus!
The Lord continuing to draw my heart to His in the midst of the context of a new culture and country.
And now, a reflection on my past month...
I think I said in my last newsletter that I was sick… well I was sick for the majority of March right up until April as it turned into bronchitis! A "grosse bronchite" as the doctor said. I still have a bit of a cough even now.
I don’t usually get this sick in seasonal sickness waves — it’s normally only a few days. But this one really knocked me out, and I was continually asking God what He was doing in the midst. By the third week in March I missed most of my classes and, in between coughs, was either sleeping or trying to get school work done.
I hate being weak. I don’t like asking for help, I feel like a burden and I just wish I could "figure it out" for myself. The ironic thing about being sick is that you both need help, and you deep down just want your mom to sing to you and bring you good soup and rub your back.
I saw again a paradoxical struggle for me; wanting to be strong and capable, yet also wanting to curl up in my mom’s arms. Oh how our Father made us to run to someone.
I think God used this time to, like so many other instances in my life, bring me back to Him. I was worried about school work? I trust you God. I felt alone and exhausted? I trust you God.
That third week in March was also SO beautiful - sunny spring days with new buds and blossoms, and I spent many an afternoon listening to hymns, soaking in the Son. ;) I spent two afternoons sleeping in our front garden. I needed my daisy fairy garden earth time.
One day I was reading through Isaiah and got to chapter 30 verse 15:
"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."
I was hit with the reality that we speak about God being strong, but need to be reminded of it more than once. In our weakness He is strong. In our weakness, we are strong through Him.
I felt the Lord in this time telling me, “Hey, slow down love. Pull away and be with me. Rest and trust me. I will be your strength, in fact, you will not be strong without me. I brought you here, I will keep you here and will help you succeed.”
And when I look back at my other newsletters… the months leading up to March were full of much spiritual growth and stretching and draining processing.
While I was absolutely exhausted from waking up coughing and not eating much, this time was so sweet as I slowed down (partially because I had so little energy to go much faster) and just fell into God. I found my solace and comfort in Him, and it was a sweet time of “practicing” relying on God for comfort and healing and peace. Much like God used bronchitis to remind me of His strength, we must remember who He is. I think our whole lives are really just a process of remembering.
It got me questioning - why am I so sensitive? Why did God make me to feel so deeply? And in turn have that affect my body so deeply? Some of you know the, how to put it, more interesting physical reactions I’ve had to stress. Maybe God made me to be an open book in just about every possible way so that my life would be an open book for Him, an evident and obvious weak human who needs a Savior. Boy can it be exhausting and embarrassing being so sensitive, but I’m continuing to seek the Lord on how to walk in the way He made me. Honesty and vulnerability are His tools to show others how needy we are. I have always wanted to be the "strong" figure who can "keep up" and not cry and get emotional. God is asking me to be weak so that HE can make me strong.
Thanks for reading, à bientôt!