Encouraged

HEARING MY FRIENDS testify of God's moving in their lives makes my heart burst with thanksgiving.

Last night I met with Jil, my pastry chef friend who bakes the most amazing cakes, pies, and treats whose names I can't pronounce or spell correctly. She's training at a world-class culinary school, with French chefs and all, and is having the time of her life. Just about year ago she asked us (her friends) if we could pray for her: intent on enrolling at the said institution, she had to undergo a rigorous interview and therefore needed wisdom on how to go about it. Now she's almost done with her requirements—with flying colors at that, although she'd never admit to it.

She told me, "I really saw God's handiwork in my life. While I reviewed my journals, I saw how God orchestrated everything. He's amazing."

One of the perks of having a friend like her is the chance to taste her creations. For my birthday Jil gifted me with a sampling of red fruit charlotte. Having no idea what it was, I had to ask her, "How's that spelled?" It was made of lady fingers, raspberry marmalade, and rapsberry mousse. The sweetness of the lady fingers complemented the acidity of the raspberries. I ate it with a cup of tea. "Divine," I told her. I'll post a photo of the fruit charlotte as soon as she sends me the file.

Around lunchtime today I chatted with Jef, my Bikolano friend who's now based in the States. I'd like to share what he wrote to me:

[God] is sovereign and in control. I believed it for a fact, but this time, reading this verse [Job 42:2], I was shaken by the reality of it. He is. In. Control. Over ALL things. Nothing surprises Him. What shook me even more is that He guides the flow of space-time, this whole sequence of events that started from the Fall so that His glory can be more fully displayed, for my greatest good and my deepest happiness, which is to see the face of God in Christ. He uses His sovereign knowledge and power to govern every single detail of my life to demonstrate His love for me. Yes, even my sins and my imperfections so that I will despair of myself and throw myself into Him. I was just awed, devastated, overwhelmed.

I thank God for these friends who, by their personal stories, have encouraged me in the Lord in more ways that they can imagine. It's refreshing to hear about the world from their perspective. There is, in fact, a world outside of the hospital. There probably are far worse problems that the ones I'm faced with. Jil and Jef's lives demonstrate how God personally deals with His children, a fact that made the Psalmist exclaim, "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4a).