On submission and trains.....

Today was the last day of the semester for my women's Bible study group. We've been working on a study by James MacDonald called "Lord, Change My Attitude". It was a really good study, and this last week was on submission.

One of the lovely ladies in my group Hildy had this great example of what submission is in a marriage.

It's like an engine and a coal car. The track is only wide enough for one train car at a time to go down the track. One of them has to go first. Husbands are like the engine. They are designed to go first and to do the work of pulling the train. The rest of the train goes where the engine leads because it is first on the track. Wives are like the coal car. They follow right behind the engine. The always follow, but the engine cannot lead without any coal. The coal car is equally as important as the engine, but it just has a different function. Just as the engine cannot function without the coal car, so too is the coal car not usable without the engine. One cannot work without the other....they are interdependent. What a mess it would be if the coal car tried to go around the engine and lead the train! Not only would it cause all sorts of chaos, but the train would not go anywhere fast because coal cars were not designed to pull a train. That's the engine's job.

Many times we have the same problem in our relationship with God. Granted, God can pull the train without any help from us (the coal car), but how many times do we try to pull the whole train ourselves instead of letting God be the engine (AND the coal car, for that matter). How free we could be if we just followed instead of always trying to lead!

It's a choice we make. Do we submit to the authority that God places over us and ultimately submit to God, or do we step out of God's protection by not submitting? I firmly believe that if we submit to the human authority God has placed in our lives, He promises to provide protection and blessing EVEN IF the human authority makes a mistake. If we rebel against that authority, we step out of God's umbrella of protection.

In the beginning....

Well, there's a first for everything :) I'm an Internet junkie, yet I have never given in to the blogging thing. Maybe it's because I'm not that much of a writer, or maybe because I tend to write in a somewhat "stream of consciousness" kind of way (a.k.a. not making sense to anyone but myself), but none the less, here I am blogging. Actually, I was talking to my mom about my upcoming mission trip to Taiwan and she said that I really needed a place to share pictures and notes about it, so that is what my blogging will be about for the first few months with a few tidbits of the rest of my life thrown in.

So about Taiwan.....
I am SO excited about the trip! We are going to work with several missionaries in Taiwan to help them with a women's retreat for the ladies in Taiwan. Now, a women's retreat in Taiwan different than in the US, with a big difference being that Taiwanese women are not allowed to spend the night away from home without their husbands. Also, while the Taiwanese government is open with the sharing of the Gospel (unlike in China), only about 2% of Taiwan is Christian and the culture is heavily steeped in Buddhism and Taoism. They live in a culture that has little regard for women and are living with little or no hope. This retreat may truly be the first time these women have ever heard anything about Jesus or the first time they will ever see that there is hope for something different. The task seems daunting, as I'm not sure I've ever met someone who had never at least HEARD about Jesus before, but I know that I am just the vessel and it is GOD that will be doing the work. I am so excited to get to just love on these women and share with them the hope that we have in Christ!

We have just formed the group of 11 women that will be going on the trip and have only just begun meeting together. As the next few months go on, I will be sharing more and more about what I'm learning and what God is showing me. For now I will leave you with a few prayer requests:

-First, that God settles my life down a bit or at least gives me peace in the storm (more like lots of little whirlwinds). Nothing major is going on, just lots of busy-ness and such that goes with having a big family and also the holiday season. I really want to be still and hear God, but I have a hard time being still and quiet most of the time.

-Second, that everyone on the team gets to know each other and works well together. I am not foreseeing any problems at all, but when you get 11 women working closely together, well....you know :)

-Third, for God's blessings on the ladies in Taiwan that we will be working with.

-Lastly, that God will work on my taste buds and give me a new sense of adventure in eating. I'm foreseeing that as being a challenge in Taiwan, but I am officially not going to speak on the matter anymore and I'm giving it to God right this second. :)

Well that's it for my first official blog post. Good night!