This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of my mother’s death. I wish I could say I understood grief, but honestly, the older I get, I conclude, grief still has it’s way of surprising me.

Yesterday I was putting up clothing that I had packed in our crate from the US. I unpacked one of my mom’s blouses, and one of her hats. It dawned on me that this time last year, Oct 30, 2010 when I went home to TX for my mother’s funeral, that I snatched these two articles from her home and packed them in my suitcase for when I return to Taiwan. Then in April 2011, when we left Taiwan to go stateside for 4 months, I had packed the same two articles in my check in luggage, taking them to TX with me. In August 2011 we packed a crate of things to send to Taiwan. Yes, Mom’s blouse and hat tucked among the things, which I rediscovered yesterday!

I haven’t worn them, I just like to pack and keep them and take them back and forth from one side of the world to the other. I recognize the Lord’s comfort here.

Isa 53:4-6

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. NAS

When Jesus went to the cross – he even bore our griefs.
How do you know you if have really surrendered your grief to the Lord?
Could it be when you recognize his comfort? Like I said, grief still has a way of surprising me, but better yet, the Lord’s comfort is even greater.

Do you like My Mom’s Hat?

A Fran Moment:

I love the work of God’s Spirit among the community of believers! In a brief 15-minute conversation with one of my Chinese sister’s, she told how she had been praying for me the past 4 months while I was in the US. Out of her mouth came Paul’s prayer from Phil 1:9-11. Wow! She went on to share how her quiet time with the Lord each day consisted of praying the word of God. This morning, I opened my bible to read the prayer that so easily fell from my friend’s mouth, because it is genuinely in her heart. In my bible I recognized a couple of personal notes jotted beside this prayer: June ’09 – my own prayer for a named loved one’s spiritual condition; and July ’10 – when I last went to BSF – HQ for TL Institute, Phil 1:9 was my room assignment! Again, I love the work of God’s Spirit among the community of believers! Organically, I was pointed back to His love message to me.

Also in this brief 15-minute conversation with this sister, she shared how she has been slowly reading through Psalms 119:1-7, taking it one section at a time, meditating upon it and praying it back to the Lord. Because our time was brief, she didn’t share specifics. So this morning, I turned to Psalms 119:1-7. The first 7 verses provided a full meal of spiritual food to see me through this day. I look forward to tomorrow’s feeding. Again, I love the work of God’s Spirit among the community of believers! My heart is flamed afresh as I reconnect with the body of believers in Taiwan. My heart is spiritually fueled with words of encouragement and direction through God’s word. No wonder we are charged to know the word of God and commanded to not forsake the gathering of His people! Open the word and connect with a brother or sister in Christ today to experience the work of God’s Spirit among the community of believers!

My daughter, Paige, planned a “Surprise Momma’s Day Brunch” to honor me and the many mommas that influence and care for her while I live overseas. Most of these women I know, and a few I have heard about over the years.  I am so thankful for the many women that influence her in a variety of ways, pointing her towards Christ – to shine for him.  The table setting was beautiful and the food was fantastic!  Her husband, Chris, took her daddy and dad-in- law fishing while we did the girl thing.  It was a very fun day, full of surprises.

The kids sent us new pictures this week – so I had them printed along with a couple of photos we took not long ago of us.

your sandwich has – scrambled egg, ham, lettuce…… and yes, that’s peanut butter on it.

As a foreigner living in Taiwan, all I can do is pray for God’s will do be done concerning the outcome of the presidential election today. Please pray it will be a clean, corrupt free process, and that whoever wins – the result will eventually be unity, and respect. See Romans 13:1-5. I don’t know if this is the best article to read – but at least it seems to quote both parties.

This morning, Jackie phoned me after he arrived at the office. He announced he was at the office all alone. When he arrived, the gate was down; as he pulled in the tiny parking lot, it was empty; when he opened the office on the 3rd floor….. nobody! He looked at the office calendar, “oh yea, it’s a holiday”. So he invited me to come join him for lunch. As I got off the subway and entered the city park called “2-28 Park” to meet up with Jackie, I remembered of the reason for the holiday. Chairs were set up in the walkway as an extension to the amphitheater, and police were scattered about. I could feel the spiritual darkness and see the sadness in faces all around me. So I prayed as I walked across the park, and The Lord reminded me that until his return, there will always be wars, and rumors of wars; political healing is not the answer, but pray for spiritual healing.

“Lord, bring spiritual healing to this land. Help the people to stop looking for a political savior. Help the people forgive, let got of their bitterness and to begin loving one another.”

Only Jesus can bring such healing to this people and their land.

To learn about 2-28 National Holiday:

Click here

The crate has been in port since Sept 20, but had to sit until all the customs/forms cleared.  Praise God for the perfect delivery date for us – Sat at 10 am. All 40 + boxes (mostly small boxes) arrived intact; all arrived safely except for one item that was laying loose (a plastic round tube full of blank cd/dvd’s).  About 4 hours later, the delivery man brought it to our door – so nothing missing!  It’s been nearly 2 full days of unpacking, rearranging, and putting things away – but we are almost done.  Much of the stuff was food that we cannot get here (if we can find, it is triple the cost).  We cleaned out the pantry and re-did it .  We still need to put up lots of books.  Jackie got the new printer set up and is still fiddling w/the turntable.  He got the new phone hooked up; can’t wait for someone from the US to phone our packet 8 number so we will be able to hear how the sound of the ring is different from the TW house phone.

Fran

Jackie got home after midnight from his recent travels.  We’d not been asleep an hour, when “rattle rattle, shake shake” at 1:55 am. “Jackie we are having an earthquake.!” He was so tired, I think he slept through it.  I was just glad I wasn’t in bed alone (even if he was unaware).  It’s a startling sensation, but not frightening. Fran

stats on the quake:

added 9/8/07:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2007/09/07/121551/Quake%2Dshakes.htm

Fran has just posted the first in a series called “Fran’s Mission Moments” – check it out here: Fran’ Mission Moment #1