It's been a While!

With 2 of 3 courses completed for the semester (hooray!), I feel it is time to post a few updates. Soon I will post a belated summary of the time we spent in Nepal about one month ago.  Right here is will a little piece about the past few weeks back here in Doha.

Amidst all the business of being a nanny, enjoying life with my sister & brother in law, assignment-posting, prayer meetings & Bible study, keeping up with dear friends in the Western hemisphere and boyfriend-ing with my new favourite German - Matthias, I almost forgot that I live in the Middle East! It all became so familiar so quickly. Then every so often I catch a few remaining strains of the call to prayer as I rest in my bed in the early hours of the morning, or step out on the back porch to collect laundry off the line after the sun has gone down... and I ponder with such awe at the God I love. I remember less than a year ago, in Guelph, reading through Andrew Murray’s book “Absolute Surrender” and being struck by these words: 

"I say again, God will bless you. You have been praying for blessing. But do remember, there must be absolute surrender. At every tea-table you see it. Why is tea poured into that cup? Because it is empty, and given up for the tea. But put ink or vinegar or wine into it, and will they pour the tea into the vessel? And can God fill you, can God bless you if you are not absolutely surrendered to Him? He cannot. Let us believe God has wonderful blessings for us if we will but stand up for God and say, be it with a trembling will, yet with a believing heart:

"O God, I accept Your demands. I am Yours and all that I have. Absolute surrender is what my soul yields to You by divine grace."

You may not have such strong, clear feelings of surrender as you would like to have, but humble yourselves in His sight, and acknowledge that you have grieved the Holy Spirit by your self-will, self-confidence, and self-effort. Bow humbly before Him in the confession of that, and ask Him to break the heart and to bring you into the dust before Him. Then, as you bow before Him, just accept God's teaching that in your flesh "there dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18), and that nothing will help you except another life which must come in. You must deny self once and for all. Denying self must every moment be the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you. "

(Here is a link to the entire book Absolute Surrender online for free. I *highly* recommend it! http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/absolutesurrender/contents.htm)

When the these words became incorporated into my own life, I was a college student who had recently been rejected from an internship I interviewed for at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. I was applying frantically for a job in Edmonton, Alberta, to attempt to be with my sisters and their families. I had plans to live here in Doha for 6 months nannying in October of this year, but had not yet heard back about grad school applications. I was preparing to leave the fantastic city of Guelph, Ontario (my Church, campus ministry, incredible employers, some caring Professors, and some very precious friends) where I spent four very important years of my life. Still, as Murray suggests, in God's power it was fairly easy to be "empty" to God.

Currently in my life there is a sense that everything happening in Doha is appointed, and so I find myself very calm (even though life is moving quite quickly, and although the Americans I have came to really love are packing up and leaving Doha for good).  The semester is coming to a close... relationships exist in such a transient setting here. In 6 days Matthias and I will be on a plane to Munich where I will have the opportunity to spend two full weeks with his (fairly large) family that I have heard so many lovely things about. We’ll all head off to Austria for 5 days of skiing (can you imagine!!), and then some of the boys and I will participate in a Bible conference at a CASTLE that will be taught in German (hahaha). I am delighted but have a healthy amount of trepidation... my Pimsleur German lessons have been fun so far, but anyone who spent a semester of French class with me will know that I am more gifted at giggling and winging it than language learning (oh “Moi dans une boite!”... Laura, Sarah & Susannah, that was a shout out to you).  I am thrilled to be learning about the people and way of this part of the world... and especially to be learning it alongside my sweet, adventurous, generous, car-racing, attractive-as-all-get-out boyfriend. Really, I’ve never been to Europe before, so I am bursting with enthusiasm. Good news is that Thias is sort of the weighted sand-thingie to my bunch of helium balloons... he’s quiet and calm when I’m not (and hopefully vice versa). I've got it in my mind that he will somehow keep me from creating too many overly embarrassing situations for myself.  

I am trying to get Christmas wishes out to grandparents, sisters and brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, 2^nd families, school buddies, and hometown friends alike. So if you are reading this, Merry Christmas! I love you very much, and pray that God would grant you more and more of Himself this upcoming year, for your joy.  And who doesn't love pictures as a part of year-end reviews/letters, so here it goes!

Caleb and I received fabulous gifts in the mail from a lovely friend in Canada: We shall use the teething ring lots and think of you often! Thank you so much!!

My birthday was a lovely affair. The Conley family serenaded me right from the start! Caleb & I went swimming on the compound with some other little Canadian friends, Larissa & Darren took us out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and Matthias wrote me a beautiful poem (and recited it to me in German). My gift came with a special code to crack too.... it's very fun dating an electrical engineer. :)

We threw a Thanksgiving Dinner for the American exchange students (plus some Arabic, Goan, and Faroese friends) two weeks ago. Kudos to Matthias for driving all around the city to three different grocery stores on three different nights to find all of the specialty ingredients for the day.

We also spent a weekend retreat out in the desert with the wonderful Youth Group from my Church here in Doha. They are really an INCREDIBLE community of brilliant people. I feel so blessed to have become a part of them a little bit.

Next semester is looking like it will be a really wonderful one: I will be taking just one course so I am looking forward to more sleep(!), spending more time in prayer, spending more time with the Youth, cooking more for Bible Study and Larissa and Darren, embarking on my goal for 2011 [mastering the art of bread-making], preparing to run a ½ marathon in May, being present for more of Caleb’s first “big boy” moments, becoming more than pretend-proficient at German for the man that I love (yep - love!), and getting to know the Moms here in our compounds as time and play-dates go by.  Whatever happens I have set it in my heart to have empty but willing hands for God’s work.