i will be grateful for this day

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly hosts!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Amen!

♥


So many reasons to be thankful.

I am so blessed by my friendships. i have been given far more than my share of true friends, and for that, i can't even begin to describe the joy i feel when i realize that.

The heartbreaking thing, though, is that no matter where i go in the world, i leave a friend behind. and yet, for the first time this past summer, i began to realize how wonderful indeed Heaven is going to be. I will see all of my friends there from all over the world--and that is SUCH a comfort for someone like me who has a lot of familiar faces to look forward to seeing there! there are people, who I would consider dear friends, whom I will not see again in this lifetime. It's sad. But again, I have the comfort that in Christ Jesus, there are no goodbyes.

It's particularly hard tonight, as I was showing Jenny movie clips and photos of my freshman year at Calvin, as well as the sweet clips that Debbi has sent me in the last few days of her telling me she loves me and misses me. (Jenny could understand why it was that I missed Debbi so much!) And the irony of it all is that I'm going to be back at Calvin showing movie clips and pictures of Jenny and telling my friends there what an awesome flatmate I had when I was in Scotland; and indeed, I will miss Jenny so much. I love her like she was my sister!

So many Goodbyes for such a short lifetime. Heaven will be an endless Hello.


Welfare Ideology on Tuesday got me thinking about last summer in Yellowstone. I miss it more than I thought I would. I miss Montana. I miss Dan Tyers and his long thoughtful pauses before he spoke his wisdom. I miss the sheer exhaustion and sheer happiness of a sucessful hike. I miss the view from the top. Most of all, I miss the worship on Sunday mornings in the amphitheater. Those will be some of my favorite moments in worship I may have all my life; there's nothing like singing the old hymns on a beautiful day in a national park. I remember the amazing rainbow, too. And I remember... I remember what it was like to speak and be heard, to be respected and appreciated for my message. That hasn't left me, either. I can't forget about the gifts I discovered, the things about myself I would have never known (perhaps, or at the least not know about now) otherwise. Yellowstone was an unexpected encounter with Grace that I didn't anticipate-- but I'm glad it happened. I didn't realize it would change me--or stay with me--as it has. That's a comfort, too.

I'm going to miss Scotland. Jenny and I have agreed that it is a "freeing place"... we've both found ourselves again here. And I haven't even been to the Highlands... YET!

I need to focus on my paper. I'm somewhat motivated to get up early, churn it out on a whim, shower-get groceries-do laundry, and then come back to it and start editing. We'll see how that goes. I'd rather get it done by Saturday night so I can return the books on the way to (or home from) Church on Sunday, when they're due. Lord Jesus, give me the inner strength I need!!! (Please!)

♥
love,
betsy joy