Take a Break from the Treadmill

My walk on the treadmill goes a lot like this:

 

Let's drink some water to start.

Ok. Good. Warm up walk.

 Faster. Faster.

 4.0 is good.

How much longer?

Maybe I can bump up to 4.1.

Oh, I think I'm dying.

Back to 3.9.

Okay, breathe.

Am I finished yet?

Didn't this song play already?

This wall could really use a new coat of paint

do do do.............................

Oh, look 2 miles!

Forget the warm up walk! I'm done with this mess.

 

 

Yet, my walk out in the real world goes so differently:

 

Dear God, thank you for this beautiful weather and the opportunity to get some fresh air and sunshine....

Oh, look! I'm here. That was quick.

 

Ahh! What nice walk. I should really do this more often.

 

 

If any one this sounds familiar then maybe you too need a break from the treadmill of life. Sometimes I feel like I'm spinning me wheels- going through the motions, getting nothing accomplished but still getting worn out.

 

I think I need a break from walking in place.

 

I need to do more than go through the motions.

 

I need to feel the sunshine and sniff the roses.

 

Pray. Act. Reflect. Pray. Change. Pray.

 

This  needs to be my new rhythm of life.  Life should be much more than just keeping pace. Life should be about living fully- experiencing, helping, loving.

 

 

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

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2015 Word

For the last few years I've chosen a word to serve as my mantra for the new year. Inspired by From Chaos Comes Happiness, this trend takes over the internet as each December turns into January. 

In the past I've chosen words such as "love" and "bold" and they have served me well, even if I didn't always use them to the fullest potential.

This year, I've struggled to choose between two words, "God" and "me". Quite the dichotomy.  Therefore, this year, I am choosing a phrase- "God in me."

I want to focus on internalizing the lessons I've been learning about who God created me to be. For me, this is a year of self-discovery. I want to discover and live out my purposes. I want my faith to shine through me and I want to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit within.

I want to perpetually invite God in me, to guide me and guard me. I want to live knowing that He is within and that He would delight in my actions.

I've started reading A Purpose Driven Life, loaned to me by a coworker, and it's been very inspirational. If you haven't read it before I suggest checking it out. It's meant to be read day by day but I've been stretching it out further, letting the ideas mellow and meld into my mind and heart.

I see this a bold new year filled with love and learning and I'm ready to embrace the adventure of discovering God in me.

Do you choose a word of the year? What did you choose this year?

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Moving to Mokpo: Another Example of God's Grace

We recently relocated to Mokpo. It is a much smaller city than where we were before. There are a lot more parks and places to enjoy nature. There's a hill by our apartment with a nature trail as well as plenty of bike paths and places to explore. I really like it here.                           


Getting here was a bit of a different story. About a week in advance we bought bus tickets for a 3 hour bus ride.

When we brought our suitcases down from our third floor apartment, we realized that an apartment on the second floor was flooding with sewage. It was cascading down the stairs!

We had to physically carry the suitcases down the stairs and try to avoid the sewage waterfall.  Yuck!

We had a lot of suitcases and a small cooler with perishables so we had to take two taxis. My husband took 2 suitcases and I took the other 5. We showed our taxi driver the bus tickets, which say the name of the terminal at the top and repeated the phrase "We want to go to the bus terminal" that we studied. My taxi driver nodded, and repeated bus terminal-ok.

So, we take off. And my taxi takes me to the train station and keeps repeating bus terminal and insisting we are there.  Fortunately, I know that we are only about 10 blocks from the bus terminal so I give him the last of my cash. Unfortunately, I have 5 huge suitcases to take with me.

I started praying. I knew we had an hour before our bus left. Surely, I could make it in an hour. So, I started walking.  And kept praying. I walked with 2 suitcases until I could just barely see the others, went back for them and kept repeating the process.

2 construction workers stopped and asked me in perfect English if they could help me. They carried my suitcases about 3-4 blocks, to a major intersection.

I started wheeling two bags across the intersection when a random German man and his Korean girlfriend appeared. They each wheeled a suitcase across with me. That left one suitcase on the other side of the street. As I stood watching it a small group of school children appeared.

"Is this yours?" They yelled across the lanes of traffic. I shouted back that it was and they formed a little ring around my suitcase. When they light changed they took off running and met me in the middle of the large intersection.

I crossed another small street. I could see the bus terminal and I could see my husband frantically pacing around. I knew he was worried. We don't have cell phones here so he couldn't call to check on me.

I screamed and hollered his name. I jumped up and down. I waved my arms.

Nothing.

So, I started walking, still about 4 blocks away. After 1 trip with the suitcases I shouted his name again. Nothing. And then the idea came to me.

And so I shouted my name.

Instantly he turned and saw me at the top of the hill. He came and we carried the suitcases down together. We still had 25-30 minutes before our bus left.

Halleluiah!

So, long story short, we are here and happy to be here.

Here are some pictures of our new place:

our apartment...we've since upgraded to a full size fridge and a trundle bed

 the park a few blocks away

the view from the top of the hill

 

hiking a small mountain

out and about

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Sick of the Shtick

Jim, Raymond and Frank, Doug, Tim.....the list goes on and on.

Who are these men, you ask?

They're all men from sitcoms who have the same problems with their marriages.

Most fit into the clueless dopes stereotypes and their wives are either ballbusters or are constantly annoyed by the men's behavior. The two fight an endless battle where one is constantly trying to dupe the other into doing what they want, whether it be more free time or a hand with the chors.

I know. It's TV. It's not supposed to be serious.

But it is to me.

It's serious to me because not only do I see marriages portrayed this way on TV but I have seen marriages that actually are this way.

I've seen men who let women take care of the kids and home 24/7 because they worked hard at work and now they want to relax.

I've seen women treat their husbands like they haven't got a clue.

I've seen men act like they don't have a clue to get out of the responsibility.

I've heard men and women talking to their friends about to manipulate their spouses into doing something their way or for them.

I've heard older women seriously talking to new wives about making sure their husbands are trained. (Yes, I know sometimes this is just a cheesy joke.)

I'm sick of it. Our spouses are a gift from God. Our marriages are not 100% perfect and neither are we. But our spouses are still a gift and should be treated like one!

We don't have to swindle, or manipulate our way through a marriage relationship. Your spouse married you because they love you. Be honest with them. Tell them what you need or want and listen and encourage them to do the same.

Marriage made you a team, not perpetual enemies. It's time to act like it.

Be honest.

Communicate with each other.

 Keep your marriage your marriage.

Put God first and your spouse second.

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June W&W Bookworm Bookclub: Learning to Know God as Provider

This books is a real-deal life changer.

It was given to me by my former employer. Before coming to South Korea, I worked at a Christian law firm where I participated in weekly Bible studies. This book was offered to any employee who wanted to read it.

I know for a fact that since them many copies have been passed around to friends and family members because this book offers some great insights.

It's Learning to Know God as Provider by Russell Bixler.

 

It's a small book but one worthy of reading. In fact, I think its smallness makes it easier to process. The arguments aren't long and drawn out but are simple to understand. It also makes it easy to revisit at a later time.

 

To understand the book, you must accept the truth it uses as its premise. The truth that we live in a spiritual world. There are angels and demons. There are evil spirits fighting against you.

 

The author goes on to explain that we can have a spirit of poverty, worry, false guilt or any number of things battling against us.

 

He gives us his personal story regarding the spirit of poverty. Basically, he says that when you are plagued by this spirit you may earn $60,000 a year but you need $61,000. It never seems that you can make enough money.

 

Another thing the author addresses is being prideful of our income. For example, we may feel we are worth X amount or that we deserve X amount in income. When we think this way we are forgetting that God is our provider, not ourselves. We are NOT dependent on our income. There are so many other ways God can provide for us and meet our needs.

 

If you are struggling with finances. debt, worry, guilt or any other evil spirit then I highly recommend you read this book. It is truly insightful.

 

Have you read this? What did you think? Are there any books you'd consider life changing?

 

If you'd like to link up your favorite June book reviews, please do so here:

You can read the May reviews HERE

Also, don't forget to grab a button!

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Oldie But Goodie #1: My Fish and Loaves Story

Hi there!

I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite posts from my previous blogs to help you get to know me a little better.

This post is entitled, My God is an AWESOME God and is from Nov. 2013

So do not worry ,saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and these things will be given to you as well. -Matthew 6:31-33

When we arrived in Korea we learned that we would be paid on the 15th of each month. This meant, on October 15th that we would be paid for a weeks worth of work and would not receive a full paycheck until the middle of November.

We had several unexpected  out of pocket expenses such as physicals and alien card fees. We also needed things for the bathroom, like a shower head an a toilet seat.

We'd saved money to bring with us but these unexpected expenses cut in quite a bit.

Now, we come to the week before payday.

We got down to our last several thousand won (I can't remember but I think it was around $50ish). (1,000 won is just under $1) This had to get us each 2 meals a day  for a week and a  six pack of 2 liter water bottles. We also usually buy a small snack to get us through the afternoon. 8 hours without eating gets to be a long time!

Our cupboards were down to 2 slices of bread, 3 slices of ham, a couple slices of processed cheese, onion, a box of cereal (no milk)and 3 packs of ramen. We also didn't have enough water to make it a week.

We've slowly learned that in this country it is usually costs more to buy groceries than it does to eat out. We could easily spend $50 on groceries and not make it a week.

Mike and I prayed that God would get us through the week and that we wouldn't be miserably hungry. We usually purchased snacks to get us through the 8 hour shift, but it looked as if we wouldn't be able to afford them this week.

On Sunday we bought a pizza box. It included a pizza, chicken tenders and fries and spaghetti. We were able to eat all day Sunday and lunch on Monday from this box. Monday we stopped and bought drinks for later in the afternoon.

However, the amount of spaghetti we shared left us hungry part way through work. It was Pepero day. A day devoted to cookies sticks covered in chocolate and other toppings like nuts. Teachers and students often exchange these treats. We didn't have any to give out, but God blessed us greatly by having students gift us with a couple boxes of them. We were able to have our snack after all! I truly felt has if God had had some marketing guru suggest Pepero day just to help Mike and I out of our hunger!


Monday night we ate more leftover pizza and left over chicken from Friday night. On Monday night Mike calculated our cash in hand to be 20,000 won (just under $20)

Tuesday morning, Mike counted our money and determined we actually had 40,000 won. It was as if God had come into our apartment and slipped us a $20.

Tuesday we went out to eat for lunch. Mike had a rice stir fry type dish and I had a noodle soup. Our typical orders at this restaurant. Usually, it costs us 8,000 won. This time it was 7,500 won. This allowed Mike to buy a Pepsi, for a pick me up. Another food related blessing came today. We had been helping a student prepare for a speaking competition. Her mother dropped off two loaves of coffee and nut bread for the teachers to share.

Wednesday, we ventured to McDonalds and discovered that (Praise God!) they were running specials. We both ate full size meals for the same price as two Happy Meals. Towards the end of the work day, I was starting to get hungry. Suddenly, I began to smell cinnamon. One of the managers had gone out and purchased brown sugar cinnamon pancakes from a street vendor. Knowing my love of sweets, she graciously shared with me.

Wednesday night, our next door neighbor and former boss dropped off a bunch of extra bananas. I ate mine for dessert with melted pieces of chocolate that were a gift from my student. We have enough bananas to each eat one for a snack tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow, God has provided enough money for us to keep up our traditional lunch with the teachers at the food court across from our school. I'm so looking forward to a warm bowl of curry.

We've yet to see what God has in store for the rest of the week but I am confident he will provide. Ever since we've started tithing we have never needed for anything.

I feel as if I am living the story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish. 01 02 12

How We Got Here

If you read my first post, you may remember that I mentioned that my husband and I are currently teaching English in Daegu, South Korea.

                                                        (Our trip to Suseong Lake)

I would like to share with you the story of how we came to be in South Korea.

In 2009, my husband and I were dating. He took advantage of the opportunity to teach in Changwon, South Korea for one year. Before the year was out, we were engaged and I spent my summer vacation visiting him.



We married in 2010, moved to PA and tossed around the idea of moving back to South Korea pretty continuously.

In 2013, we were seriously considering either moving to sunny SC or back to South Korea.  One day, Mike looked at me and asked, "Tell me what you want to do. South Carolina or South Korea?"

Instantly, in my gut, I felt that I should answer South Korea. However, I spoke out of my own desire to move back to my home state.

Before bed, I did a Bible study in my Charles Stanley Life Principles  Bible. Throughout the Scriptures he highlights consistent life principles. Throughout my study,  one principle kept standing out. Basically, it said that to obey God means to obey the initial promptings of the Holy Spirit. (Side note: if you don't have one of these Bibles I highly recommend it. He explains things so clearly.)

I started to feel as if I should have gone with that "gut feeling" and told my husband we were going to South Korea. I prayed and asked God for a sign that this was the right decision. I turned to the next page in my Bible, and there it was- the same principle again!

The next day, I told my husband we should go to South Korea and explained why. We started looking and applying for jobs.

Nothing was coming through, yet we still felt this was what God was calling us to do. So, we put in notices at our jobs and with our landlord.

We packed up and moved out.

The day after we moved out, my husband found and applied for a particular job. Within days we had interviewed and accepted the job.

And, here we are 8 months into our first year's contract.





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