Patience!

I talked a while ago about learning lessons, and God is continually trying to teach me many things.  One thing I am trying to learn is to have patience.  I knew in coming to Brazil that it would take me a while to adjust to my surroundings and to find where I fit and how I would work best here.  I guess I was thinking that 4 months would do it because I felt very frustrated this week when I looked around and did not see the progress that I wanted.  I am not sure that I gave myself a  timeline before but I must have done so in my sub-conscience because I feel frustrated at my current situation.  I have somewhat gotten over my frustration by looking to Christ and remembering that His timeline is not my timeline and that I am much better off on His timing than my own. So I am again learning to trust and to rely on Him for the strength to get through the frustrating moments, and praise Him with joy when I see that I am fitting in and connecting here in many ways.

One area that I am experiencing both frustration and joy is the music group at church. Although I am accepted and encouraged to sing with them, I am frustrated when I am not included in meetings and can't express my opinions or teach due to my lack of vocabulary to explain myself well.  But, even at the end of a frustrating moment God sends people my way to encourage me and He did that for me last night when a friend at church wanted to tell me how much he enjoys my singing.  So I was humbled and rebuked in such a nice way for my unbelief.  It is in those low moments that I question God as to why he has me here, and in the high moment I thank Him that He chose me to go Brasil because in His perfect plan He knows that I need to be here to learn the lessons He has for me!

Please pray for me!  I know many of you are and I have no doubt that God uses those prayers to give me strength and help me in this learning process.  Please let me know what I can be praying for you about, so that God can use me to bless you.