Blessings

Whenever I begin to miss home or get frustrated with how life seems to be going, I always have to remind myself of all the blessings God has given to me, an undeserving, sinful person, saved by His grace. I have been so blessed recently with some unexpected blessings from the Lord. They clearly show me that I do have a God in control of my life and He knows what things we will be facing in the future. He wants to lead and guide every step of the way. I can't say that I don't get a little afraid or feel a force of panic run through me as I face something I do not feel sure about. But that is when I need to remember the promises God has claimed and actually claim them.

One of the blessings that God has given to me is the gift of friends. When I came to Oregon, all I had was my extended family. I love my family, but I also love getting together with friends. And what I really love is getting together with friends that share the same interest as me: MUSIC. I love to sing, play the piano, and flute with people who love to do the same. I didn't realize how blessed I was to have a church in ND that had a great music program. After not being involved with music for a little over a month, I thought I was going to go insane! I just wanted to play music! The Lord answered my prayer by allowing the Voshalls, a family attending the church here in Oregon, the desire to be friends with me. We hit it off so well. They have been a blessing to me so much already and I hope that I can be the same to them too. We have gotten together just to sing and play music for hours. Their family has so much of the same standards such as dress, modesty, music, etc.. that my church in ND does. Their family has a daughter named Sarah. She is a freshman in school and plays the piano at church. She does a lovely job. We often share ideas on how to play hymn arrangement better. It has been a lot of fun! Her older brother Nick, who is also in high school, sings and plays the guitar. He has an amazing voice and a great ear for the guitar. It is a lot of fun singing duets. They also have a younger brother named Stephan, who plays violin, and a younger sister named Bekah, who plays the piano as well. Earlier, I said that I had prayed for friends. Well, I had also been praying that I would have an opportunity to share music with the church as well. It didn't take too long till God allowed that to happen. Getting together with this family allowed me the opportunity to not only be encouraged in the Lord through singing and playing music together at their home, but to be able to sing and play within the church. The best part is knowing that God allowed it to happen. He has provided opportunity for me to grow in all musical areas: doing vocal specials, playing flute, and playing the piano during congregational hymns (taking turns with Sarah, if she needs a break).

God also opened the door to learning sign language. I took 4 semesters of ASL at UND, but did not have a lot of consistent practice. A deaf couple attends the Baptist church here in OR and it has opened the door for sign language to be practiced. The church is also holding ASL classes once a week for four weeks. The goal is for each person, including me, to sign to this deaf couple during the church services. We will start off in small increments of 5 min and will take take turns signing throughout the service. Wow! It is exciting! That is exactly why I wanted to take ASL from the very beginning. God knows the future and He does some amazing and exciting things along the way!