The Chronicles of Janie

Detail from The Parting of the Red Sea; Arnold Friberg Exodus 13:20 - 15:21 When we walk with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night, then we can trust that our moments of greatest defeat are, in reality, our greatest moments of victory.  It's tempting, when confronted by the sea on one side and a hostile army on the other, to lose faith and ask, "Why did you bring me out here in the desert to die?"  But stand still. The Lord will fight for you. The most difficult moments of life are the opportunities God uses to show His power. The most challenging situations create the most impactful testimonies in the lives of God's people.  Throughout the history of the Bible, and even into the present day, we point to that moment at the Red Sea. This is what our God can do!  Listen, my people, to my teaching, And pay attention to what I say . I am going to use wise sayings And explain mysteries from the past, Thing...

The experience of being thrown into another culture was once described to me as, effectively, attempting to sit down at an ongoing card game and begin playing with no prior knowledge of the rules. I think that about sums it up. It is incredibly awkward. The only thing that can really keep you going is - as Trey, the guy who used to sit behind me in church was fond of shouting - 'grace! Grace! GRACE!' I don't really need to say any more than what I've already said about the difficulties of learning how to live in Mozambique. Pretty much everything, from  initial culture fatigue , to  language   barriers  (two posts, there. Yikes!) to learning how to live with  friction , to constantly  standing out , to learning how to deal with  grief  has already been covered in probably needless detail. For here and now, let it be sufficient for me to say that I thank God for the extreme clarity with which he called me to Mozambique, because if I ha...