It's Not About Sushi

So why the picture of Sushi with this post? Because it represents just one of the many things I have to be thankful for. I took this picture at the Chinese meeting 2 weeks ago. Each time no one knows what to expect, since several of the people who come are restaurant workers; two weeks ago it was sushi, this week, rice, vegetables, and four different kinds of meat cooked in a variety of ways. I don’t usually like Sushi, but the salmon Sushi was great. There was something that I could enjoy, even though “I don’t like Sushi.”

This is just one small example of the amazing way God works. Things happen that we definitely don’t like. Yet somehow, as only God can, He opens amazing doors and does special things, just for us, through the things we don’t like.

Because of Rich’s untimely death, I cannot count the doors that have opened for me to share God’s faithfulness as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. A friend’s father died, and she was amazed at the comfort I had to share, because of my Savior.

Exiting the valley, I have discovered His rod and staff that comfort me, preparing a way before me and keeping me safe, even in the midst of spiritual warfare, or among people who are my perceived enemies.

Then one day I wake up to find my cup is overflowing. I had an amazing opportunity to get advice from a world-famous physician visiting my place of work for only a few hours. His words and manner were encouraging and helpful. Later, I was moved into a new, smaller, but clean and bright room at work—designed to give space for all the different tasks before me. At the Chinese meeting I had three new students, and most of the occasional ones also attended. It was a packed class of around 12. We worked through Proverbs 12 printed out in four different English versions, three Chinese versions, and the Hebrew (Masoretic text) in order to get a better understanding of the task and knowledge needed to translate something. Everyone participated and worked hard, and all realized that translation is a far more precise science than they had thought it was. This afternoon, spending time with friends and learning things about them I had never known.

In a way, it is just the everyday things of every day life. This and that happens… but on another and deeper level, the realization of how much God’s hand is integrally involved in the threads of all our lives, controlling the intersections without a single tangle.

Someone asked me last week, “What is it about God that is so important to you?”

Without hesitation, I answered, “That the God of the universe who created the planets, the stars, this earth, everything it, that He cares about me and loves me.”

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord—forever!