Ni Hao

Greetings from Taiwan. We got around 6pm last night (Friday night).

It's a 12 hour time difference, so that would have been 6am Friday morning for you people.

I'll update again once we've done something

I ate bing last night. it was fabulous.

God is Good

So I got that assistantship. Two days after the interview, even though on the phone they'd told me that I wouldn't hear until at least mid-July.

And I was reminded again that my Father provides. Never exactly the way I plan it, but He still provides...abundantly, immeasurably more. :)

I was bored this afternoon and found myself reading some blogs. One of them blew me away. Check it out --> audreycaroline.blogspot.com. If I could summarize Angie's posts in one paragraph, it would be this: in the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as a Plan B. Sure, I find myself coming up with a Plan B nearly every day, from those little daily occurrences to big life dreams. But I am a child of the Sovereign and Almighty God who numbered my days from before I was born and knows the number of hairs on my head. If my Plan A falls apart, it doesn't mean that God is up there wringing His hands and saying, "Oh no! How did this happen? What are we going to do now?" Instead, it means that my plan was never part of God's plan. He doesn't have a Plan B because He doesn't need it. The Lord's purpose prevails. Whatever He decrees will come about.

When you think about it that way, I guess God doesn't have a Plan A either. To call it "Plan A" implies some degree of uncertainty, since one should only use "A" if subsequent amendments known as "B", "C", etc, are bound to follow. Even the word plan is no good - the word itself suggests that no one's really sure what's happening, what will happen, or what should be done about it.

And so I choose to rest in knowing that what my God has ordained will come to pass. He shall perfect that which concerns me.

I NEED MONEY

Dramatic? Perhaps.

But really.

I do.

I had an interview for an assistantship today, but won't know if I get it until mid-July. Even then, that's only $450 a month, which is not enough to live on. I will definitely be looking for a job in Williamsburg. It would be nice to find one at a restaurant where they serve alcohol or some night job where I can sit there and do my homework.

In other news: Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Chad Ashby on their marriage. It was a beautiful wedding this weekend.

A Time for Everything....

"a time to embrace and a time to refrain...
...a time to be silent and a time to speak..."

The Lord has kept me in a bit of a holding pattern this past year. There is so much I could say to describe my situation, but He's made it abundantly clear that for me, this is a time to refrain and be silent. Though this reserve regards a particular relationship, I hesitate to declare to the blogging sphere anything I have not been released to say to the one of which I speak.

It's been difficult these past two weeks for two reasons. The first is that this friend and I are finally in the same place for more than a week for the first time in about nine months. The second is that in a few weeks' time we will say goodbye again - this time for an indefinite, but lengthy, duration. I want a chance to finally speak. To freely share from my heart, even embrace, before I run out of opportunities.

Lately I've begun to wonder if Father will ever tell me, "Now's the time." I wrote about a month ago about my friend who has entered his own season of speaking freely, no matter the consequences. I both admire and envy his efforts. A large part of me wants to follow his example and just say what I've wanted to say since last summer.

Yet I simply cannot do that. Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity weighs heavily on my mind. A woman of God isn't supposed to act that way. She is to wait silently and patiently for a man to say those things first. Even if she's certain the young man wants the same things, she must wait for him to speak.

I'm not happy about this. I wish I could just speak my mind, say my piece, hold nothing back....

I have no idea what the outcome would be, but my guess is that I wouldn't like it. In conclusion, I'm going to keep my mouth shut these next seven weeks, even if it kills me.

But if I didn't, maybe then I would know with absolute certainty whether this season is "a time to keep" or a "time to throw away."