A Bend in the Road

Dear Ones,
   Many years ago a precious friend of mine, Susan Chase, gave me a book by David Jeremiah, titled, “Bend in the Road.”  At the time I was in the hospital and had a cast on my foot, a definite bend in the road kind of time in my life.  I have since read through the book on a couple of occasions, each time marveling at the way God takes us on the journey of life with its gentle gradual direction changes, the pot holes, the speed bumps, the mud and ruts when it rains, the twists, and the outright hair pin curves that send you in a direction you would have never thought possible.  Is that not how this life works?  Nothing is certain, nothing is set in stone, and there are no road signs that promise there will be no detours or construction zones.  There is only the One who promises that if we trust Him, He will never leave us or forsake us.  He promises to be a light in our darkness and the wing that we find shelter under.  The One who promises to complete the work He started in us.
  Over the past years I am continually being taught by my Heavenly Father that when I trust Him my journey along this road, though many times not easy, will bring such incredible joy as He binds my wounds, carries me when I cannot go on, and gently encourages me to take another step of faith when I cannot see the place where my foot will step.  Once again that road is looking a little shadowed and uncertain, and yet, with confidence I will take the next step because I know Who holds my future and I know Who holds my hand.
  Over the past few weeks the health of my beloved grandmother, who lives in California, has rapidly deteriorated to the point that she requires round the clock care.  Our family has conversed at great length over the best plan going forward; the best way to honor and care for this woman who has raised a godly family, a generation who longs to provide her with the best possible care and comfort in her distress. 
  “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27
  I have been given the privilege, opportunity, and ability to take a home assignment furlough from my work here in China, caring for some very precious little ones; to honor, love, and care for the woman who raised a little boy into the incredible man who is my father; a man who has, in so many ways, been a strong loving example of what it is to really obey those commands of scripture in caring for orphans and widows.  Showing in everyday life what it means to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”  To honor my daddy by using my skills as a nurse; to give back just a small piece of this grateful heart for the loving work my grandmother has done of raising her family all those years into men and women who love and serve Him.  This woman, who set an example for me of what it is to be a woman who loves her husband, loves her children, is a worker at home , reverent in her behavior, sacrificial, compassionate; has in every way earned the crown of wisdom’s grey hair and the praise of her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren.
  At this time I have requested a home assignment furlough from my sending board and I will be flying to California to help care for my grandmother.  I plan to be there for the time that she needs me, which is uncertain at the moment as it will be dependent upon how she progresses.  It is my prayer that as I take this time away from the beautiful babies I love so much and the work that is being done here in China that it will be a time of refreshment as I fellowship with family and other believers.  That it will be a time of reflection as I process my now over five years of life here.  That my time away will be in an environment within my family community that will allow me to laugh, to tease, to comfort, to hold, to help, and if need be to cry out so many of those tears that have been held back through my years spent here. It will once again be a time in my family life when we come together to share a hard, beautiful, grace-gifted burden that will be lightened by the many hands who long to help carry it.  I thank you for your support, prayers, and encouragement as we walk this detour together.

“But if any widow has children or grandchildren they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God…If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them,”

             I Timothy 5: 4&16   

Grace to you,
Mariah

Storms of Hope...

The rain had been steadily falling all afternoon, and now as the light was fading it began falling in harder torrents of wind swept sheets broken only by flashes of lightning and the crash of thunder.  I stared out the window watching the taillights of the van backing up towards the Big House.  The bundle snuggled closely in my arms wiggled ever so slightly and I shifted the blankets covering his face to check that the oxygen mask had not slipped from his tiny face.  He was so little and yet had been fighting so hard the past several days and now suddenly he was asking us to fight for him because he was simply growing tired.  We needed some labs, and radiology studies and we needed them quickly.  They were tethering an oxygen tank to a seat in the van and under cover of an umbrella I stepped into the back cradling him closely and checking the monitor that was passed into me.  Dr. Steve slid into the driver’s seat and handed me a small flashlight that I could hold in my teeth, freeing my hands for working with the various items around me that would help keep our little guy going on the way to the hospital.   As we drove through the flooded streets, skirting the larger rivulets that were once other lanes and the various shapes and sizes of stalled cars.  I found myself humming,

“In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face while the storm howls above me and there’s no hiding place mid the crash of the thunder precious Lord hear my cry keep me safe till the storm passes by

’Til the storm passes over ‘til the thunder sounds no more, ‘til the clouds roll forever from the sky, keep me safe let me stand in the hollow of Your hand, keep me safe ‘til the storm passes by.

Many times satan will whisper say there’s no need to try, for there’s no end of sorrow there’s no hope for the by and by but I know though art with me and tomorrow I’ll rise where the storms never darken the skies.

’Til the storm passes over ‘til the thunder sounds no more, ‘til the clouds roll forever from the sky, keep me safe let me stand in the hollow of Your hand, keep me safe ‘til the storm passes by.”

  I smile through the dark at my little charge and consider that there are moments when all around the circumstances say there is no hope and yet here we are in the back seat of a van pushing through flooded streets to make sure we have exhausted every possible means of help for him knowing that there is HOPE even when the storms rage.

Sterile packs...Thanks Haiti

 Thankful This week for all those weeks I spent in Haiti helping surgical teams... This past week I have put that early training in wrapping and packing sterile sets to good use! 
  Haiti Friends...Thank you all for the work you put into training me to fold and wrap it was a huge help when things came back from the hospital with simply a note or text saying please sterilize for next case.

Thankful Hearts...and Pumpkins

   I smell pumpkin spice coffee brewing, the wind has picked up and there is a chill to the air, I watched a V-line of birds winging their way South across a sunrise sky in the early morning hours and was reminded once again of how quickly summer turns to fall and then winter.  I opened a package from a friend this week and was blessed by the hues of fall colors that poured out reminding me that we are entering the season of bounty, harvest, thankfulness.  The changing of the seasons...
  And so "Thankfulness" became the theme of our Sunday fellowship , we took that Fall package and made a beautiful tree of fall colored pumpkins, and wrote thankfulness leaves...

  Then the challenge was made to the children to begin memorizing a list of verses in order to earn funds to Give Gifts this Christmas to help those living in the countries around us. They are so excited to begin memorizing and shopping.

Days of Mending Kids...

Mending Kids International Surgical team has arrived from LA 

Planting the seeds of health in little lives, just as my seeds are sprouting in the windowsill-

It's like a bar of  Chocolate...

"Welcome to Joyville!"

We have been moving babies all around for surgeries in various places and hospitals over the past few days, what a chess board life seems to give us... and making us all really wish that stress relief did come in a bottle!

Because everything else came in the suitcases and then I glance up from all the busy to the writing on my wall... amongst all the comings and goings there it is plain as the black letters penned there-

"My Peace I give you,

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Let not your heart be troubled,

neither let it be afraid."

John 14:27

When I can't see the Mountains...

   We stand on the porch waving at the buses as they enter the gates of our home, they pull to a stop and the doors open freeing a stream of old and new friends.  I hear her voice calling and glance to see waving arms coming toward me in an embrace, in her voice is laughter and a unique greeting only someone familiar to my heart would give…

  “Hey there friend, I hear a rumor that there are mountains all around this place."  She climbs the stairs and wraps in me a hug.  She was back once again with a team and I had to smile at her observation, only someone who has lived in China or visited often enough to know that the ever present foggy, hazy smog makes a clear day where you can see further than the buildings across the way a pretty exciting moment.  She has been here so many times and yet has never seen the mountains that surround the valley we live in here at the Big House.  Mountains, huge and unmoving dominating a landscape and yet here they are unseen, clouded, hidden from view.  I promised to show her some pictures.

Later as I scrolled through photos of the blazing red sky, the sun setting, and the jagged black edges of cliffs cutting into the horizon I had to consider the fact that though I have lived here many years now, I actually have very rarely seen these mountains and then those glimpses are only after a very hard storm when the heavy rains and the strong winds clear the air enough to see their forms.  Several times recently I have considered that conversation, So often I cannot see the mountains that stand strong and firm, I cannot see where my strength comes from I must simply take by faith that He who promised is faithful to carry it out.  The days can be long with pressures from every side that threaten to make us loose heart, or give up, or forget that there are things there that we can’t see or understand.  I am reminded of Elisha talking to his servant as the armies of King Aram threatened to capture him…

^“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

II Kings 6:15-17

I can show my friend pictures to prove that those mountains really are there, to point her in the direction they can be seen and yet the rest is up to her, she will simply have to take on faith that they are really there.   And I dear ones will have to rest in the command of my Abba,

“The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.”

Exodus 14:14

Nations, Deserts, Battles, and The Victor!

October 1, 2014

     It is National Holiday time in China a celebration of the founding of a government.  I stand at the window listening to round after round of fireworks going off in rapid succession making all hours sound as if there is a war going on.  My I-Pod shuffles and I hear the strains of the “Desert Song” begin to play.  I listen to that one a lot…

This is my prayer in the desert

When all that’s within me feels dry

This is my prayer in my hunger and need

My God is the God who provides.

  How often this land feels like a spiritual desert with fellowship so sporadic, and the needs of the multitudes so great, I look around at the war raging around me and wonder in my human weakness how and when the “Springs of Living Water” will flow here?

And this is my prayer in the fire

In weakness or trial or pain

There is a faith proved

Of more worth than gold

So refine me Lord in the flames.

  The flames are hot the dross floats to the surface, this place, the work , the hardness of it, the beauty that it brings out from the heat, the reality that it will take flames to burn away the extra, the “me” that wants to get in the way of the Refiner’s work.

And I will bring praise

I will bring praise

No weapon formed against me shall remain

I will rejoice

I will declare

God is my victory and He is here.

And this is my prayer in the battle

When triumph is still on its way

I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ

So firm on His promise I’ll stand.

  So often I am reminded that this is a battle, a war that is being fought, this is the trenches where life and death are a daily reality but He has given us armor, He has given us provision, He Is the victor, He is the One who will topple governments, the One we will listen to for troop movements and care of the wounded, the One who will continue to provide the supply lines so that when we dig in and stand fast, we will stand firm in His promises, in His Victory- the battle has been won, now the world needs to hear it and see it lived out in our lives.

Let the fireworks continue!