Mile Markers

I just need to take a moment and just recognize two major mile markers we hit this week.  The first occured on Wednesday.  All during this past year we prepared all our paper work that we would need to present to immigration when we got here.  I cannot tell you the time, and energy and frustration that went into it all.  At one point close to our departure date we realized we had the wrong type of Birth certificates and we needed to start over.  We called, we wrote, we drove, and we got every piece of document we needed signed, stamped, and sealed. Well after a year of all that work, this past Wednesday we went to present our paper work.  I was nervous cause there is always something missing, our police record had expired, who knows what else they would find missing or what laws had changed.   We got there at 10am and by 12:30 am we left with exactly what we needed for the next step and for K and the girls to be considered residents!  Praise God, what a load off our backs! The most amazing thing for me is to see God's providence.  The reason it was easy to become residents is because our son was born here and when I was young my parents applied for my residency.  Niether event ever occured with the thought of " oh this will help the Zim's get their residency in the future."  Yet God knew=).

The second mile marker in our journey here is that we are going to sign our lease this weekend, and we will be moving next week!  What a joy!  We packed our boxes and loaded the container back in August, so obviously we are so ready to be settled in our place.  I am not too excited about packing and unpacking again, but at least we know this is it for awhile. In this too we see God's hand.  In order to rent in Buenos Aires, you have to have a person sign that owns a property. Well we didn't think we had that till a family member looked up her information and was able to do it! Again God provided. 

So we are beginning to see the light at the end of the this tunnel of transition.  The "must do" to do list is getting shorter, and I know soon it will be replaced with new "to do's". But for tonight I am so thankful to check those two items off our list!

New ipod in the Toilet

Yesterday ended with the news that our new ipod accidentally fell in the toilet. I wonder if it had been any other day, if we would have been more upset, but yesterday we weren't.  

I (C) was invited to come share a devotional in a young girls cell/small group.  This cell group is led by one of the young ladies that was a teenager during our time here 6 yrs ago.  I can still see her sitting in my Sunday school class on Galations, and her eyes openning wide when she realized why Christ had to die on the cross for our sins.  Now here she is all grown up, a young lady leading her own group of teen girls.  I know I keep mentioning that my greatest joy has been to see some of the youth that have now grown up serving passionately in the church, but I can't help it.

None of this is to toot my own horn .. on the contrary it is to toot God's horn.  It is amazing that He in is His infinite wisdom has chosen to include us in the work of expanding the kingdom.  He doesn't need us.  I can remember John Piper saying once, we need to be used by Him not vice versa.  It is so true.  Anyways, many times we don't get to see the fruit of what one does... yesterday I was humbled to see how God really can use us.  So that is what I chose to share with the girls.  My whole talk was based on how God uses us, how God used people in Acts to affect history.  Saul was ministered to by Ananais when Ananais didn't understand why God would call him to speak to the biggest persecutor of Christianity.  Yet he obeyed and that obedience brought about eternal fruit.  An investment that lasts.

  

I was able to share with the girls that people invested in me and spent time with me to share Christ.  God used so many people and still uses so many people to speak to my heart, to challenge me , to grow me, etc.  He does that in all our lives. Then in turn God give us the same opportunity to spread his Kingdom in others.  So to God's glory, He includes us in His story of redemptive history.  I know none of this is earth shattering or new and I know many who read this can add there own stories of God's work in them and through them.  I guess it comes down to the fact that it is just amazing to watch it before my eyes.  Here is this one youth, now investing in younger girls, and the cycle will then continue.

 

So obviously after spending time with the girls and pondering investing our lives in things that affect eternity.. what does the fact that my ipod fell in the toilet matter?  That is exactly how long material things and things of this world last.. only until they encounter the toilet.  Yet it astounds me how God can use us in small ways to have huge, exponential, lasting affects for eternity.