Me of little faith

Colorful leaves, crisp cool air, soft sweaters, scarves, hot chocolate, fire places. These are a few of my favorite things... (insert Maria von Trapp's voice) about fall.

This fall is slightly different. The leaves are still green, and it's still 85 degrees every day. I'm not complaining, but it is weird to be in a seemingly never-ending summer. It makes me feel like I have no concept of what time of year it is. It feels like it's July to me, and here it is the middle of October already! I think it'll be really weird when Thanksgiving rolls around and I'll still be wearing shorts and t-shirts.

The semester is half-way over now and things are going so well. Thanks to those of you who have been praying. We have been seeing some very exciting things happen. The other day I was talking to my friend Shadow and I was joking with her about something. I said, "Now, Shadow, don't you lie to me!" She replied, "I can't lie now, because I'm a Christian."

I must have looked at her for about 5 seconds with a blank stare.

"What did you say?" I asked her.

"Yes, I'm a Christian now. I decided a few days ago that I want to believe!"

I was speechless. I never would have imagined that Shadow would make that decision after only a few months of being here. Once the shock wore off, I became very excited that Shadow would now be my sister in Christ! Please pray for her to grow in her walk with Christ and be a witness to her family and friends when she returns to China in March.

Recently in our team meetings, Joy has been challenging us to pray the "impossible." I put that in quotations, because impossible is not a word that applies when God is involved.

So many times when I pray for something, my heart doesn't truly believe. Though my lips are saying one thing, my heart is saying, "God, I know this would never really happen, but if by some chance you change your mind, it'd be cool...but I'm not counting on it."

I doubt that the God of the universe can change the hearts of my friends and do things that seem too big. Oh ME of little faith!

It's at times like this that I'm reminded of all of the times He has been faithful. I've seen Him answer countless prayers. I've even seen Him heal a paralyzed man in Sri Lanka. In Matthew 21:22 it says, "If you believe you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Why do I have to constantly remind myself of this? How quickly I forget.

I pray that God will increase my faith. I want to believe that He can do anything and pray with confidence knowing that He is fully capable of doing anything.

When I make this change of heart, I think big things will happen.

My brother Nathan came to visit me this weekend. This picture was taken in a bamboo forest on a hike we took in Manoa Valley.