please pray for my mama

A few quick updates from Tina-Land-

MOM & FAMILY:
We found out yesterday that my mom has breast cancer. The tumor is small and she faithfully gets her annual mammogram—so we have trust that the cancer will be very treatable. That being said, my mom hates pain and my dad hates Dr’s, pain, my mom’s pain, stress, etc. So this will definitely be a trying time for them—as well as my two brothers and I. She has surgery on Monday to remove the lump and I’m heading home to be with her. Once healed from the surgery, she will start with radiation and we hope that is all she will need. Please commit to praying over the next two months for my mom, Bonnie, and my dad, Jerry. And I have to say that this sure seems like a good reason to be back from El Salvador and not working full-time—I can just hop down to Southern Oregon and be there to support my mom and dad. That is such a good feeling!

CAR MONEY IS HERE—NOW LOOKING FOR A NEW CAR:
Yeah! After a lot of rigamarole—Dave was able to find a pretty cheap and secure way to get me my cashola. So I now have the money to purchase a car. I am looking for a Toyota Corolla somewhere around 2001, with less than 100K, standard transmission. Let me know if you see anything for sale!

JOB:
We were able to increase my hours at Olio United (looking for a great fairly-made and downright stylish gift, dress or art work? http://www.oliounited.com/ ). This will provide some more consistency to my pay and schedule—and is with some of my best friends! I’m really looking forward to it. This still leaves a lot of hours in the week open—but I have a few opportunities to explore to potentially cover those. Please just keep praying that I can keep living simply and that I will know what opportunities to pursue. Otherwise, I simply trust God to provide—as He always has in the past. I am so blessed!

A WORD OF STILLNESS:
The above thank yous and prayers, have me pondering the roller coaster of life. Seven years ago I was on quite a ride as I was struggling with the questions of whether God existed or not, and Psalm 46:10 was the spot in the Bible that ended all questions in my mind.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

These words caused me to pause because I realized that was my ultimate question, “Was there a God and if so, could He really calm the storms in my life and my spirit?” This verse spoke deep to those concerns and has long stayed with me as I continue through my ever twisting path of life. It brings me comfort and peace—and primarily seems to always introduce God into my darkest moments. In Israel a few years back, I bought a ring with this verse written in Hebrew along the band. And when I feel chaos crashing in, I slip this ring on and it speaks to my fears of not knowing the end of the story and offers a solid place to stand—No matter where you are, be still. I am God and I have it all in control! Truly I do! Just wait and see what I am planning!

I know that so many of us are in strange bends in the road currently: career-wise, relationally, spiritually. So I offer this verse as a marker in your road—or maybe a billboard along the way—but definitely a message from God. He is here and He is big enough to be, well all kinds of God-like. I encourage you to invite Him into your current situation—feel free to test Him and scream and yell if you need to—because He is God, He can handle it! I have and I remain strangely in peace and faith amidst another life storm. I have hope for my mom, a job, a car and a great tomorrow. I know it may sound odd, or maybe downright delusional, to say and yet I remain still in this moment, trusting God to just be Himself. And that is enough to make it through to another day with a sense of joyful expectation. I will keep you posted on how He does!