On my mind this evening ...

Hi! I really did intend to start writing more often. AND I have had LOTS on my mind that I have wanted to write about. But I have been so stressed with work and just have not found the time to actually get it typed up for you. UGH!! I am so stressed with work. On top of that, because of work I have "trigger thumb"! Akin to "trigger finger", but it is my thumb that is affected. It's basically tendonitis in the thumb. Don't worry, I have an appointment with an orthopaedic doctor to have it looked at. On top of that, because of the extra time sitting at the computer, I am getting stiffer and stiffer. Headaches are becoming a daily aggravation.

All this to say, I am stressed out with work! And to say that I haven't forgotten you, just really being pushed with work. I stayed up to 4:00 am last night trying to get my latest dataset completed. It is still not done. UGH.

One really neat thing that I will share with you. When my son, Eyad, visited us in March, he drove down from Chicago in a car he bought to use while he was visiting. Because he believes that he will be able to visit more often on his new job, he wants to have a car here to use. The car is a silver Ford Mustang convertable!! Leather seats, and lots of extras. Anyway, he returned to Jordan a week or so ago and is letting us drive his car while he's gone. Woo Hoo!! It is the coolest thing driving with the top down! I tell you, it makes me feel 20 years younger!!

I think I told you that I am in a study right now that I absolutely love!! As I said, lots of good stuff to share with you, and I am hoping to get a little breather here soon (keep saying that, but it hasn't happened yet).

Just a little, since I'm sitting here anyway. It is only 11:00 pm.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:8-11

When I read this as part of my study, it made me think of my son, Eyad. Eyad has the scientific and mathmatical sort of mind (I'm all language and history). He loves talking, reading, and thinking about physics. All of it goes right over my head!

When God speaks even to the smartest of us, it is like Einstein discussing quantum physics with a 2-year-old. We are so limited, even the wisest and smartest of us, in what we know and what we can deduce. Our experience is limited to time. God inhabits eternity; He created time. Such a God is so far beyond us in knowledge, wisdom, understanding, justice, righteousness, and truth, that we cannot even fathom the elementary things of His Word. (Yet, with the Holy Spirit, we are able to understand more than we can in our own limited resource.)

I imagine it is something like the times Eyad has tried to talk to me about the concept of time, and trying to imagine an eternity outside of time. Can you wrap your mind around it? How can you say anything like "Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the beach," if there is no time? What is that like? It boggles my mind! Makes me break out in a sweat just to think of it.

But then the rest of that Scripture. God's words are POWERFUL! He SPOKE the universe (including time) into existence! And I think it is so cool to realize that any time we spend in God's Word, any time we spend listening to His voice, it is not wasted time. We may not immediately see the benefit (just as a farmer will not see the harvest with the first rain), but every little drop will have an effect. Every word and syllable that God has ever said is out there, right now bringing forth life, restoration, healing, peace, and joy!

Listen for His voice, read His Word, let the power of His words have His way in your life. Drink them up, soak them up, and those words will satisfy and produce abundance of joy and life!

Love,
Ev

The One Thing that is our First Love!