Standing Firm

So this blog is going to look a little different style-wise, because I have not been journaling every day but because I take pictures I can remember what happened throughout the week. Lately, my schedule has been crammed full of reading for seminary and watching lectures for seminary and teaching ESL classes and helping assist with ESL classes and helping kids with their homework and sharing the gospel with everyone and helping with children at church. Thankfully, God's timing is perfect and at one of our churches we are studying about the things that God has given us to be stewards of such as money, time, body, health, and our minds. I have also been learning to trust God completely and the small group I have joined is going through a book called Trusting God. It's awesome to see how God orchestrates this life and how our lives are just a small chunk of time in His huge plan.

Our South Asian Center has been under some spiritual warfare lately. There is a lady who lives in the neighborhood that drinks a lot and sometimes wanders into places she should not be in. Last Monday she came into our center and I was in there alone, everything turned out okay but it was just a concerning situation. God has been teaching me about releasing my fear completely to him and this week I have done that. I am also memorizing and meditating on the passage in Ephesians 6 on the armor of God. Please pray that this lady will be delivered from all the things that she is in bondage in and that she would accept Jesus Christ as her Savior.

We have been receiving so much snow this winter. It's so beautiful to wake up and see everything covered in snow. It's not so beautiful to have to trek through it and shovel it but I'm so thankful for it's beauty. It reminds me of God's love and how he disciplines us because he loves us.

My weekends lately have been full of classes and the journey to and from classes has been tiring. God provided a friend that I stayed with in Manhattan this past Friday night so I was able to get more sleep before the long day of class on Saturday. I thank God for Carlee and her hospitable spirit.

Since I have been here and have been studying in seminary, I have felt lead into biblical counseling. I am still praying about this but it makes sense. I loved working in the pharmacy back home because I loved getting to know the customers and just listening to their stories and giving them advice. And on the buses, random people feel lead to talk to me about their life. I think this would be a good master's degree to pursue and I can still use this on the mission field and with children so please pray that God would direct me in this.

Please pray for our centers and church plants, that God would provide for our every need.
Please pray for my friend Grace's friends Anna, Hank, and Sara. Anna and Hank have a relationship that needs more honesty. Sara feels alone and feels distant from God.
Please pray for Lauren that volunteers in the South Asian Center, that she would have clarity about a job and that God would open up doors for her.
Please pray for Rebekah that God would provide her a job and a car.
Please pray for me for guidance, wisdom, and the ability to balance my life while getting enough sleep and rest.
Please pray for Urban Nations Outreach, that we will have more male staff members and more volunteers and enough summer missionaries, and enough funding to sustain us.
Please pray for the South Asian Center, our director is soon to be on maternity leave, pray that we will be able to function while she is away. Also pray for her Camille and her husband Jim as they learn to parent, let them be able to get rest while taking care of their newborn and may they give her to the Lord and instruct her in the ways of the Lord.