#214 - And Your Title For This Season Is?....

Vol.# 214

I am renaming COVID-19 to: 

Season Set Aside by GOD…or Retreat Time with the Great I AM…or Renewing my Love with Jesus…or Resetting My Priorities with Jesus…or “Really People? Toilet paper? Hmm”…

But let me be real, my first titles were:

‘Whaat?”...To… “But Lord, what trouble is dis (this)?”…To… “Ah cannot believe what is going on”…To…“Tears for those who have died in Italy/Spain...”

I have many titles depending on the week or day. Maybe you have your own?

This week we had rain here, lots of rain! It is unusual because it is the dry season and the hottest month of the year, yet it rained all night. The winds were very strong, so strong that the clothes rack fell over and the chairs went flying as well as the hammock on the rooftop, but not off the rooftop. Ha! That would not have been good for those passing by on the street, or good if you wanted some furniture! 

So, the next morning when I got up to go on the rooftop, I knew it was too wet and dirty with the winds blowing debris from other areas onto the rooftop, so I had to switch and go on to the balcony corridor outside the kitchen. As I sat and read I realized that my views had changed from one with open skies and the top of trees and rooftops to a condo building and the houses next door. My vantage point had changed and as I bemoaned this (Yes, I finally get to use this word!), God told me, Yes, but look beyond the walls and what does the building represent? Ah yes, the building represented people and thus relationships. This season I want to turn your eyes deliberately back to those relationships I have been giving you and I want you now to do deeper with them, yes, even within the walls of confinement. Ask and I will show you how, but you need to ask!

Kitchen Balcony view

Kitchen Balcony view

Rooftop View

Rooftop View

Rooftop View

One day later I am back on the rooftop. It is still a little wet with puddles in certain areas, but I have not forgotten that one lesson that HE wanted me to learn from that one day.

Praise: 

God is not only showing me how to be flexible and not stick to the same old routines, but also to expect new things and new ways of not only spending time with Him but also new ways of reaching out to others for Him! One way of immersing myself in Him is by reading other people’s works such as Pastor Sunder’s blog: redeployedpastor.wordpress.com. In his March 30, 2020 post, he talks about giving ‘the gift of a non-anxious presence’, so…

Prayer Request: 

Can you pray that HE will show me how to give this particular gift, even though I cannot do it face to face? Pastor Dave Lewis also talked about the presence of God at the communion table in his Good Friday online sermon. I want to be His Presence!

Here I am going for a quick ride to drop off a birthday cake for a former student at Rescue. I prayed a blessing on the street there as my tuk tuk driver listened and took pic.

Cambodia Update: 

Even though the government has banned travel between certain provinces and cancelled Khmer New Year (which usually occurs this week 13-16) to stop people from travelling, it seems like business as usual here with stores and malls still open, the only concession being a temperature test before entering a mall or a marker in front of certain stores showing the distance you must stand. There are no public gatherings but still no community/personal mandated space as in other countries (6 feet or 2 metres). The Government has been given the green light for the state of emergency with wide ranging powers but we are still waiting on how that will filter down to us and how it will really affect our lives.

Thank you all for your stories. Thank you for your prayers and words and your continued sacrifice of finances even though your own finances are uncertain with jobs being closed down for this season. I humbly thank you. 

Please let me know what you are ‘titling’ this hour, day, week or season!

A shout out to my bro Vish who celebrated his birthday on Easter Sunday! 

Here is a video clip of New Life Band (my church) singing By The Blood from the album Presence:

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya