daily life!

"Who out there has a lust for life? Can't wait for each day to come upon beauty?" ~ ps 34:11 msg.

I love this verse because I identify with the feeling of being so excited for each new day to start. I love mornings! I love sunrises. I think I find something so big and unpredictable in these times. I see a new page, a new day for anything to be written, anything to happen! Sometimes I like to read back over my prayers from the day exactly a year ago and a few days ago I read from April 19, 2006 this is what I said:

"I praise you for walking me through this journey. God, where are we going!? I don't even know! But I know it is with you and I know you know, that's all I need.... Suprise me! :) You have purpose in all you do. Even as Jesus was bleeding, dying, taking insult, being mocked, falling and crying out, you had purpose, you were bringing life and salvation though no one understood... you did... he did... so I am okay with not knowing..."

After I read this I thought... well God you certainly suprised me! At that point going to Spain was not even a thought yet. So a year later I'm sitting here and thinking wow God you did this! You really did this and have purpose in it! And I wake up in the mornings and I'm like "ok God what are you going to do today!?" Sometimes when I am walking I am sure he is leading my steps and I feel honored and thankful that he cares enough to be involved with my moments and details. Here are some of those moments:

Last thursday I went to the park to meet up with this girl Emma (from Holland) to work on our Spanish homework together. Out of no where religion comes up. She said I didn't seem like the kind of person who would go to church or believe in God. I told her I do and that God is the most important part of my life. We began to talk about Jesus and the cross and eternity. It was so much harder for me to talk about my faith in English than in Spanish... in Spanish its just simpler! She told me that she didn't believe in God but the past 2 days other people have talked to her about Jesus, so if there is a God maybe he is trying to get her attention! I said, I know he is!

On Friday afternoon me and some of my classmates met up to get tapas (a small potion of food that comes with a drink) at this little frech crepe place in one of the plazas. There was a moment when I was sitting there and I was kind of in awe of everything around me. I was thinking, "this is such a gift to sit here now and to find connection with these people from around the world." We were talking about our cultures and the girls from England were making fun of me for using words like "ya'll". They said they thought that word was only in cheesy American books... haha.

Sat night I was walking home and I ran into some of my roommates friends. Even though my roommates were out of town they invited me to go get tapas with them. So I went and hung out and really enjoyed my time with those girls. We were talking about camping, so I saw that as an opportune time to share my story about the time I went camping and fell in the fire! hahah I told them, "camping and molly - no amigos!" Then as I was leaving them I thanked them for inviting me to come with them. One of the girls I was walking away with locked her arm with mine and said, "molly, you are our friend now, you don't need to thank us for inviting you." It was really a sweet moment and it would've never happend if my path didn't cross theirs in the moment it did.

Last night my roommates and I all sat down for dinner together and I said, " aww its like family dinner!" Then I remembered how in college it would take my roommates and I a month or two in advance to find a time when we could all sit down and eat together. I told them this and they thought it was so crazy because here we eat lunch together at 2:30 every day and dinner together at 10:00 each night. I remembered how often I ate alone this summer and so many times in college. In that moment I found such appreciation in the slower pace of life here and the value placed on being together, eating slow and enjoying one another.

"worship God if you want the best, worship opens doors to all his goodness" ~ Psalms 34:9 msg It is sooooo true!