Peace in the Storm....

I will bless the Father at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Ps 34:1

First things first, thank you so much for your encouraging e-mails and messages to me over the past few weeks. Your encouragement has been a HUGE blessing in my life.

I'm going to work on creating a new way of saying "thank you" because it simply isn't a strong enough way of expressing how I feel. 

So if you have any suggestions please let me know and we can hit up wikipedia with our new word. 

But I write you with a grateful heart, so until I create a new word, thank you will have to do.

Blogger has been blocked over the past few weeks here in China so it has made it very difficult to update our blogs.

But Julee and I had an awesome week in Hong Kong. We have tourist visas while we are here in China so to keep our visas valid we have to travel out of the country every 3 months. So for that reason we traveled to Hong Kong and ate western food until our little hearts were content and until our jeans were to tight. I can't post pictures on blogger right now but if you want to see pictures from our trip, please visit my facebook page and enjoy looking at them!

But we have been back in Luoyang for around a week now.

 Please continue to pray for the children here. 

And please be praying for the CHF staff. (mainly Michael right now)

These past few weeks have been a roller coasters of information and emotions.

I find myself frustrated when I come to right in my blog, I wish I could only have happy, uplifting, funny or entertaining blog posts. I hate feeling like a Debby Downer, I want to be a Patricia Positive (Show Hope Girls) But that's simply not where I am at this stage of my life.

I hope you hear me when I say that I am not unhappy, depressed, angry or an unpleasant person. (or at least I hope not, you would have to ask my roommate to get the truth on that)

But I am simply in the midst of a storm. A storm that the Father has allowed me to be in. I'm praying that God would calm this storm that I find myself in but I'm learning that God usually calms us and our hearts before He calms the storm.

Do I enjoy being in the storm?  NO

Am I graceful at learning spiritual lessons in the midst of the storm? that's a big NO

But strangely enough I'm slowly learning to embrace the wind and the waves. Because they are orchestrated by my Father. And ultimately if it was His will to calm the storm, the waters would be still. But He's allowed this storm. And still I will choose to say

"I will bless the Father at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth- Ps 34:1"

Because in between the pounding waves and hurling wind, God grants His children with a peace that calms our hearts. So whether the storm is raging or I am drowning, I am not alone and I have found the joy in the storm.

 *I sent out an in-depth e-mail of my last 3 months in China to my sponsors and friends, if you would like to receive please let me know and I will send it to you.*