And even when his face is hard to see, I'll choose to believe

It's easy to believe when everything goes our way isn't? 

Depending on the hour right now I am mess of many emotions...  I am sad, broken, hopeful, Peaceful, drained... 

But my feelings don't really matter at this point. 

The promises of God do.

The truth is, I serve a God who remains the same even when the storms are raging.  I feel like he has let this storm rage for the last six months in his attempt to draw me closer to him. 

Today I received an encouraging message from a friend that I wanted to share and also got me thinking.....

One of my favorite things she said to me was this...   "I have finally come to understand that the secret is Christ in me... Not me in a new set of circumstances....."

The last thing she said was .. Jessica, Remember to be still and know HE is God. Sometimes he calms the raging storm... But sometimes he lets the storm rage and he calms the child.

Beautiful.....

As i write this I write this I am reminded of when Jesus was walking toward Jericho, He passed a blind man who was begging at the side of the road. The man was persistent and kept calling out to Jesus, even after many told him to be quiet. But Jesus stopped and asked the man “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man replied “I want to see!”

I want to see Him more visibly, to hear Him more clearly, and to know Him more deeply....

But to be able to do that we need to be still.

The bible says we have been chosen to KNOW God.

Even though my heart is broken I am trying to find time in my day to be still so I can know him better....

What do you hear when you read the words be still and know that I am god?? 

I hear this... Don't worry my child... I am here with you and I will see you through.. Stop trying to take matters into your own hands.. Trust in my love for you and that I am able to do more than you could ever imagine... But first you need to be still and know that. That is what I am hearing tonight loud and clear.

I believe there will come a day when this past six months of "storms" will be just a memory and a remembrance of how God was faithful to bring us through it. Somedays this is harder to stand on than other days, but I will continue to believe this and remember it when I am in my darkest hour. 

After all he is the author and the finisher of life.... There is absolutely nothing out of his control. 


Psalm 107:28-30 
"Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven." - Psalm 107:28-30

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. – Romans 8:18

God Bless

Jessica

Time to get back in Touch!

Wow, it's been quite a while since we have posted. Lots of exciting things are going on in our world since our trip from the U.S. and we are excited about this next year in China. As most of you already know we are expecting our second child in August of 2012 and we are all three thrilled. God has been so faithful and always seems to give us more than we ask for. We also just moved into a much bigger and nicer apartment. Our school provided us with a new three bedroom 2 bathroom on the 17th floor. We absolutely love it. I will post pictures soon of our new home. It is so convenient to our classrooms and is such a safe and peaceful place to live. It is still inside the same community we were living in, but we are in a newer building and moved much closer to our school. Grace LOVES the fact that most of her classmates live either in our building or in a building next to us. Speaking of our sweet Grace.. She just turned 4 and is blowing our minds each day with the amazing things she learns at school (both in english and chinese) and LOVES to talk about Jesus. When our friends come over she is so proud to show them the cross on our wall and tell them what it is all about. There is nothing more precious than that.

This semester we will be busy with teaching, tutoring and volunteering with the Baoan Orphanage. We are beyond grateful for our new home which allows us a more comfortable place to have friends old and new over for fellowship.

Thank you for all your prayers this past year!

God Bless,

Jessica, Jon and Grace

Our lap top is down so I have not been able to blog for a while, we will update as soon as we get it up and running again.

Happy New Year!

Jessica, Jon, and Grace

HUMILITY

Humbly approaching the cross is something that has been on my mind lately. This weekend I finished Galations and read Ephesians....both have amazing lessons about being crucified with Christ and its not us living, but Christ living in us... being rooted in Christ's love and approaching HIM with peace and confidence....

This morning I listened to a podcast that reminded me of this...."God doesn't show us our whole path for life, He takes us step by step because He wants to be in relationship with us and honestly- if we knew the path God is going to lead us on then we wouldn't need him..."

Okay so we need God, we know that and we hear that ALL THE TIME.

But how often do we live our lives in complete surrender, in complete humility where we are constantly on our knees relying on God's strength...on HIS timing...on HIS understanding...on HIS peace.

I wish I could say that I'm at this place where I'm in complete surrender in front of my Savior. But truth be told I am slowly opening up my hands and allowing my HIM to take my burdens, my pain, my anger, my brokeness...

Praise God that He desires to heal us and make us whole again. Praise Him for giving us everything. I believe he is victorious over all our pain and depression and has already defeated those things.

He will bring me through, in His timing...I just need to trust.

The best things in Life aren't things....

Jon took Grace out to fly kites last weekend at Shenzhen University. I went along of course to take some pictures but really it was a special afternoon for Grace and her dad! One of those days that make you stop and realize that life is about moments like this....



LOVE how much they enjoy each other!

Tuesday Night Chaos

In case you are wondering what Tuesday Nights look like for us when we invite 6 extra Children into our home...Here are a few pics. 6 five year olds + one 3 year old equals = excedrin migraine. KIDDING!! Well kind of ... But we really love it, they are SO much fun. And Grace thinks it's time to party down every Tuesday night. My ears are still ringing from tonight. Take a look :)

Walter, Ray-Ray (love that name), Julie, Yancey, Snow, and Grace


BESTIES

Snow, Grace, Julie, and another Grace!

Tonight I gave them these "awards" for sitting through English tutoring before they ran into Grace's room to play...As you can see they are pretty stinkin' proud. Grace got one too for being my assistant!


I posted this blurry picture to show you the energy that comes from this group of crazy 5 year olds... this is not for wimps people! Oh and by the way - this was taken last Tuesday night... and YES that cute little guy in the middle named RAY RAY is wearing a cape to English Tutoring. Don't try him, he is not playing around!


Me with Julie - This little girl is HILARIOUS and Such a sweet girl!


Hope you enjoyed the peek into our madness!

Rainy Day Fun in Shenzhen

Grace had a blast making english muffin pizzas and cupcakes on our rainy saturday last weekend! They were sooo good and she had a blast! Great idea if you are stuck in the house with little ones, and not all that messy either :)





Followed by cupcakes...
Love this picture... she is ROCKIN the peace sign!