In the Stillness...

The busyness of this trip has yet to come.  Amidst the prep for our ESL classes, there are pockets of time like the one I'm in now, sitting on our little porch with the birds calling to their mates, the clothes on the line gently swaying in the breeze, and thoughts of last night's sermon echoing through my head.  

Experiencing church in Portuguese was a bit harder than I remember.  It's difficult when you so desperately want to be fed God's Word, and yet the language barrier holds fast.  A typical Sunday in for evangelical Brazilians usually begins with Sunday School at 9:30am, then the main church service at 7pm.  Last night, I prayed that God would enable me to understand, not only for my sake, but also for Jake's.  I was grateful, for what I did understand was absolutely something I needed to hear.  

The pastor was preaching about the four types of soil.  You know how it goes, the farmer sows the seed on the rocky ground, the shallow ground (where the seeds grow but have no roots), the thorny ground, and finally the good soil, where the seeds not only grow, but also produce fruit.  

I feel like I've been stuck in the thorny ground for a bit.  That's the one where the Word of God becomes choked out by the cares and worries of this world.  How can I produce any fruit when I let the thorns choke out the words of life?  

One thing the pastor reminded me of is this:  

Don't worry about anything, but pray about EVERYTHING.  (Phillippians 4:6,7)

I'm so thankful for some time to meditate and think about that this morning.

Love,

Ashleigh

P.S.  Happy thanksgiving to all my friends and family in Canada!!  Jake and I talked about doing a mini thanksgiving here...we'll see what we come up with.

P.P.S. You might notice the new poster to the right of this post.  I've been following the blog of this wife and mom, Sarah Bessey, and she has the opportunity to go to Haiti with a team of fellow bloggers to experience life there and share the stories of people who would otherwise not be heard.  Please feel free to click on the picture and check it out.