A beautiful day
A Year's Journey
Erick wrote this to me just a week after my graduation day and the day we officially became a couple:
"It's nice being on this side of the year with you, Amy."It's amazing to me to think that it has been one year since this whole journey began. One whole year! And yet, I also know that with our God, this has been something that was already carefully orchestrated before time even began. Each new day that I wake up on this side of the waiting, when I think about where we were, what thoughts, emotions, prayers, cries we had to our Father just a year ago, I am reminded of His faithfulness. There was never a thought or cry unmet, never a prayer left unanswered. Always promise after promise. He has been so faithful to us and He promises to continue to be.
Something Erick told me about God's faithfulness- acknowledging His faithfulness in our lives is not only an opportunity for us to be thankful, but also an opportunity for us to be able to count on His faithfulness again in our lives. His faithfulness points us toward future faithfulness, future grace.
There is joy in expectancy.
Something that God was really teaching me and Erick during the past year is that there is joy in expectancy, there is joy in the waiting. It was so easy for us to believe that joy would come only at the end of the year and focus on the momentary affliction that seemed to rob us of that joy. Erick wrote me a letter during a more difficult time toward the end of the year, sharing with me what God was showing him when he found it hard to cultivate joy in the midst of hardship:
"I was praying more on this question today and God reminded me of some key truth (John 14:26) that I wanted to share with you, that we may rejoice in this time that can be trialsome. A way to joy within the trial itself is to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is beautiful and He is sovereign and He has conquered sin and death. Therefore, when we look at Him, we can endure whatever cross He would have us bear because we know that the work He is doing in us, in every circumstance including difficult ones, is bearing glorious fruit that far outweighs this momentary, light affliction (Hebrews 12:2)."During this time God was reminding us and encouraging us with Philippians 4:4 and Hebrews 12, showing us that the waiting period is one that can be filled with joy when our eyes are fixed on Jesus. And this is our joy as Christians as well, while we walk this journey of life. What hope we have and what joy we can claim when our eyes are on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! His Kingdom is both here and not yet! My friend, MaryAnn, wrote this in her blog around the same time last year:
"I think this is what (should) make the gospel so enticing. In the gospel, we are promised an inheritance beyond comparison and guaranteed a future full of good and wonderful things. We have Hope like no other...With Christ, I really can keep on living with a constant, continual, everyday hopeful, expectant anticipation of a miracle."Thank you, God, for the strength, the grace and the promises You gave us to lead us through a whole year as single individuals seeking after Your will and glory. I really love the way Erick put it: even though we are no longer waiting to date, we are now seeking God together to wait on greater things to come. A new kind of wait :) Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to wait together in a new segment of this journey. May this relationship be used for Your glory and may it continue to point us, as it has so far, to understanding more and more of Your intimate love for us. Help us to wait with joy, for us and for Your Kingdom come.
His faithfulness today points us to future faithfulness, future grace!
By His grace
Dear Erick,
Good morning! As you can see from the time stamp on this post, the battle between Amy and jet lag still hasn't been won. Man, I thought I had it. I woke up many times between midnight and 3:30 a.m. I wonder if you woke up early today too. Since I'm up and I'm thinking about you, I thought I'd write you a letter. :)
I'm so thankful for what God has been doing since the beginning of time, what He was doing throughout fall, winter, and spring quarter, what He was doing on graduation day, how He orchestrated our Taiwan trip with its challenges and difficulties, and I'm so thankful for what He will do today and the days that He has ordained to follow. There is a peace that God was bringing up as I reflected on our trip yesterday and this peace is what continues to keep me this morning- it is the peace that our God longs to be given praise and glory and that He makes this known to those He loves and uses those who love Him to do this. This truth grounds me, guards me, and keeps me safe. I am thankful for how He orchestrated this trip in the ways that He did and that the trip was not just an opportunity for the both of us to bask in the joy of our relationship, but to turn our eyes toward Him and continually ask Him for help in it. In this way He has turned our human eyes away from ourselves and each other to Him. I so am thankful for His desire to make Himself known through us. Again, a reminder of how much this is a privilege!
Erick, I'm so thankful for you. I'm so thankful for the ways God has created you to lead us, edify and challenge me, and the ways in which He has allowed us to experience so much together as He does this. I feel this way when I look back on our journey as a whole and I feel this when I look back on pockets of time as well, like what we experienced last night. It is a privilege to experience so much with you and to be a part of witnessing His transforming work in you. I am also privileged and thankful that He has also allowed you to see His transforming work in me. I am learning that a God-centered relationship is one that involves being able to see, in a very intimate, personal, and deep way, a holy God work and grow and transform two wretched sinners more and more into His son.
I have loved learning more about you and learning more with you. Mm! I look forward to more of it. And? I am excited to learn how to be someone's lifetime friend. :) It has been remarkable walking on this journey with you, hand in hand.
Praise God for His awesome deeds!
With joy and by His grace,
Your girlfriend,
Amy
PS: Yes, this is the blog! :)
Good morning! As you can see from the time stamp on this post, the battle between Amy and jet lag still hasn't been won. Man, I thought I had it. I woke up many times between midnight and 3:30 a.m. I wonder if you woke up early today too. Since I'm up and I'm thinking about you, I thought I'd write you a letter. :)
I'm so thankful for what God has been doing since the beginning of time, what He was doing throughout fall, winter, and spring quarter, what He was doing on graduation day, how He orchestrated our Taiwan trip with its challenges and difficulties, and I'm so thankful for what He will do today and the days that He has ordained to follow. There is a peace that God was bringing up as I reflected on our trip yesterday and this peace is what continues to keep me this morning- it is the peace that our God longs to be given praise and glory and that He makes this known to those He loves and uses those who love Him to do this. This truth grounds me, guards me, and keeps me safe. I am thankful for how He orchestrated this trip in the ways that He did and that the trip was not just an opportunity for the both of us to bask in the joy of our relationship, but to turn our eyes toward Him and continually ask Him for help in it. In this way He has turned our human eyes away from ourselves and each other to Him. I so am thankful for His desire to make Himself known through us. Again, a reminder of how much this is a privilege!
Erick, I'm so thankful for you. I'm so thankful for the ways God has created you to lead us, edify and challenge me, and the ways in which He has allowed us to experience so much together as He does this. I feel this way when I look back on our journey as a whole and I feel this when I look back on pockets of time as well, like what we experienced last night. It is a privilege to experience so much with you and to be a part of witnessing His transforming work in you. I am also privileged and thankful that He has also allowed you to see His transforming work in me. I am learning that a God-centered relationship is one that involves being able to see, in a very intimate, personal, and deep way, a holy God work and grow and transform two wretched sinners more and more into His son.
I have loved learning more about you and learning more with you. Mm! I look forward to more of it. And? I am excited to learn how to be someone's lifetime friend. :) It has been remarkable walking on this journey with you, hand in hand.
Praise God for His awesome deeds!
With joy and by His grace,
Your girlfriend,
Amy
PS: Yes, this is the blog! :)
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