Oh How He Loves Us

I was talking with a sweet missionary friend last night about some difficult times she and her family have gone through over their missionary career. She told me at one particularly difficult point, she listened to David Crowder Band's "Oh How He Loves Us" over and over again to remind her that no matter what happened, she knew that God loved her, and her precious family.

I have now been singing that song in my head since our conversation last night and reflecting on how much He really does love us and all the ways He has shown us that in these last few months.

Honestly, if I went into every single detail this post would be crazy long, so I just thought I would put up some of the highlights...

As you know we sort of went through a long process in finding a tribe. A lot has to come together for that to happen and we were constantly getting discouraged as one place after another seemed to fall through.

But as we were in Hewa, I became overwhelmed at all the little details that I loved about the place. It made me so grateful that God knows us better than we know ourselves. That He knows what we need before we even ask. And that He gives us even more than we could ever ask for or imagine.

I have always wanted to learn how to garden and to raise chickens. Go ahead and laugh. I am the girl who participated in both theater and rodeo in high school, so I am used to it. But God loves even my weird desires, so I will be doing BOTH in Hewa.

The village is located at a higher elevation so that the weather is cooler, but not too high so that there is always cloud cover and not enough sun. It is a happy medium.

We will live right in the village with the people. Some people like to live a little away from the village to have some privacy and that is nice too, but when you have small children it is easier to spend time with the people and learn the language when you do not have to go a long way to get to them.

Our future airstrip will be right in our front yard giving our kids a safe place to play close to our house. In many villages the airstrip is a hike or a boat ride away (sometimes both)!

I wanted to go into an "existing work", meaning a place where missionaries already were, to have some help with the language. John Michael wanted to go into a new work, so he could build our house himself and "start from scratch" so to speak. In Hewa we both get what we wanted.

And the final thing that is just too amazing, and shows God's extravagant love for me is the fact that our new co-worker has written a book about his family's time in Hewa so far. I have mentioned before that I L-O-V-E reading missionary books and read anything and everything that might even closely relate to the work that we are doing. So, you can imagine my excitement to find out that Jonathan had written a book all about life and ministry among the Hewa people and that even though it wasn't published yet, they would let me read a copy. I have been reading it all week and it is really REALLY good. And it is so good to know that God loves me enough to give me this very rare and special gift.

I know we have reported a lot of craziness in our lives lately. We have definitely had some tests and trials to go through, but I also wanted to make sure that I reported all that God, in His infinite goodness and unfailing love, has given us. He has showered us with very intimate gifts of grace. Gifts that show us that He knows us better than anyone. That He knows us better than we know ourselves. Oh, How He Love Us...

 our future airstrip :)

 my future house :)