Happy New Year!!! ... a little late :p hehe!
Well friends, there's much to update about. First and foremost is the greatness of my God. I've seen His majesty in a million ways recently, His abounding grace that abounds much more than all my sin, His faithfulness to the unfaithful, His great great love for all He created, even for all the ungodly.... A few years back I can remember feeling loads of guilt and wanting to kick myself everytime I made a mistake in ANYthing. I see such a huge change between then and now. I've learned to love God more everytime I sin instead of disliking myself.... Let me explain. I've learned to understand more fully the love that God has for me. The love that abound no matter what. I never struggled to think that I couldn't ever do anything to make God love me more, but I certainly believed that I could make Him love me less. Over the past year I've learned how inaccurate that thought is. And I've experienced the opposite reality. Nothing can change God's love for me. Nothing.... I've learned to accept more readily His grace. I used to hold onto my errors and beat myself up about them for days, weeks, months, and even years afterward. I've learned how to forgive myself the way God forgives me. He is merciful, witholding the punishment that I absolutely deserve. He is graceful, giving abundantly to me things which I certainly do not deserve. And it's all because of the blood of Jesus, poured out for me. Among other things, I've been reading in Hebrews and Galations about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. I've been amazed anew by the amazing love that God had for me and all humanity, that Jesus would become the High Priest and present His own lifeblood as the only sacrifice that is worthy to cover the sin all people. All because He was perfect, sinless, undeserving of death which is the punishment for sin. Just a refresher for myself. Every so often we need that. Like, everday. That's why we go to church - to remember all together the sacrifice that Jesus did to buy our freedom. Freedom in Christ. Free to do the will of the Father.... If that's what we choose. That's what I choose.
On another note, I recently returned to Valencia, Spain for two weeks, which seemed utterly too short in comparison with the 4 months and 9 months that I previously spent there. It was the most humbling time. A time of learning, a time of gaining understanding and knowledge. It was a time of growth in the Lord. And it was also a time of encouraging those around me. That's the humbling part. In all my brokenness, in all my need, the Lord let me be an encouragement to my brothers and sisters in Him. In so many ways. There's another part to the humility, but I'm going to save that for me and Jesus. Last year while I was in Valencia I had learned that I cannot take refuge in any person. Then when I came home I realized I cannot take refuge in any thing. Upon my return to Valencia I learned that I cannot take refuge in any place. I am learning to take refuge in the Lord my God. He is the perfect Refuge. My Harbor.
There's so much more to share about my trip, but I feel the need to reserve that for me and Jesus. I can say that it was an amazing time of learning and restauration. I got home on Sunday night and crashed a couple hours after getting home because I was so tired. From the time that I left my house in Spain to the time that I arrived home here I was traveling for a total of 23 hours. Nuff said. So now I'm just getting back into the swing of work and school. School and work. I started back at work yesterday. It was crazy busy. My manager sent customer after customer over to me for maintenance on accounts, opening new accounts, solving problems of various types. Needless to say, I did not accomplish many of the other everyday tasks that I am supposed to stay on top of. Contrary to my previous thought, I did not forget anything at all as far as procedures or the computer programs that we use with all their codes and abreviations and such. Overall, it was a really good day at work. There were only three of us working, so it was a little crazy without the necessary branch coverage. We got through it. The reaction that I got from the Tops employees was "heyyyy, you're back!" In regard to the guys that wouldn't back off, well, it's only been one day, but now that my attitude is where it should be, I think things will go more smoothly. On another note, yesterday I also started classes at Naz. TECHnically I had a class Monday morning that I had to go to, but I slept through it. Wasn't worth going. Today the professor was joking about me not being there. Ah well. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the assinments that I already have to do, but I'm trying to find rest and peace in Christ. I tend to get really overwhelmed when I have soooo much to do, that I don't do ANYthing. So I'm working on that. I'm working on not being anxious about all that there is to do. It's hard doing all my school work when I work 29 hours a week. If I can't handle it I'm going to tell my manager to cut me back to 25, which is as low as I can go. My position is a 25-29.5 hour position. Anyways, with the start of everything it seems almost unreal that I was actually back in Valencia. But here I am, holding on, *clinging* to my one and only Refuge.
That's all for now friends. I'll try to update now and then. There's not much time, but I'll see what I can do :)
¡CHAO!
On another note, I recently returned to Valencia, Spain for two weeks, which seemed utterly too short in comparison with the 4 months and 9 months that I previously spent there. It was the most humbling time. A time of learning, a time of gaining understanding and knowledge. It was a time of growth in the Lord. And it was also a time of encouraging those around me. That's the humbling part. In all my brokenness, in all my need, the Lord let me be an encouragement to my brothers and sisters in Him. In so many ways. There's another part to the humility, but I'm going to save that for me and Jesus. Last year while I was in Valencia I had learned that I cannot take refuge in any person. Then when I came home I realized I cannot take refuge in any thing. Upon my return to Valencia I learned that I cannot take refuge in any place. I am learning to take refuge in the Lord my God. He is the perfect Refuge. My Harbor.
There's so much more to share about my trip, but I feel the need to reserve that for me and Jesus. I can say that it was an amazing time of learning and restauration. I got home on Sunday night and crashed a couple hours after getting home because I was so tired. From the time that I left my house in Spain to the time that I arrived home here I was traveling for a total of 23 hours. Nuff said. So now I'm just getting back into the swing of work and school. School and work. I started back at work yesterday. It was crazy busy. My manager sent customer after customer over to me for maintenance on accounts, opening new accounts, solving problems of various types. Needless to say, I did not accomplish many of the other everyday tasks that I am supposed to stay on top of. Contrary to my previous thought, I did not forget anything at all as far as procedures or the computer programs that we use with all their codes and abreviations and such. Overall, it was a really good day at work. There were only three of us working, so it was a little crazy without the necessary branch coverage. We got through it. The reaction that I got from the Tops employees was "heyyyy, you're back!" In regard to the guys that wouldn't back off, well, it's only been one day, but now that my attitude is where it should be, I think things will go more smoothly. On another note, yesterday I also started classes at Naz. TECHnically I had a class Monday morning that I had to go to, but I slept through it. Wasn't worth going. Today the professor was joking about me not being there. Ah well. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the assinments that I already have to do, but I'm trying to find rest and peace in Christ. I tend to get really overwhelmed when I have soooo much to do, that I don't do ANYthing. So I'm working on that. I'm working on not being anxious about all that there is to do. It's hard doing all my school work when I work 29 hours a week. If I can't handle it I'm going to tell my manager to cut me back to 25, which is as low as I can go. My position is a 25-29.5 hour position. Anyways, with the start of everything it seems almost unreal that I was actually back in Valencia. But here I am, holding on, *clinging* to my one and only Refuge.
That's all for now friends. I'll try to update now and then. There's not much time, but I'll see what I can do :)
¡CHAO!