back to blogging, with a twist

This chapter of our Arns' Adventure blog is devoted now to a new focus.
With a year behind us, the excitement and newness of living in Beijing has begun to wear off. And out of it has come a style of life that lends itself to simplicity, quietness & time to actually come before God and mean the words, "speak Lord, for your servant is listening".
In the past year, He has humbled me more time than I can count,
stretched me in more directions than I can measure
and spoken to me more clearly than I have ever heard before.
-And I don't want to forget any of it.-
So this blog will now highlight what He teaches me,
an American woman in a foreign land trying to learn how to listen.

striking differences..

On the heals of our most recent visit back to the US, it seems like the contrast between our life there and our life here is becoming greater and more defined. We didn't fit into our old shell there anymore. And although it doesn't feel like home here yet, I can tell that we've been growing. Life here is pretty simple.

We live in an international area with families from every corner of the globe along with the locals. Everything we need for daily life is within walking distance, which is good because during the week, we also don't have a car. Taxi's are always available, but this extra step of getting everyone packed and into a vehicle quickly is usually more trouble than it's worth. So most of the time we just stay home.

As a result, I'm finding myself less occupied with shopping lists & what we 'need' to do or get done and more with teaching, shepherding, studying, resting and listening. This more home-bound type of routine is not the easiest for me... by any means... at all. But what I am finding through this season of slowing down, is a miraculous gift from God Himself, the gift of being able to hear His voice. And clearly at that.

This is the first of many things that I want to remember and take with me from our time here in China. An overwhelming & busy life is not something I have to lead. Being still and knowing that He is God, does in fact lead me to really knowing that He is God. That He is faithful, His ways are just and true. He keeps watch over His flock and will go to any ends to keep His own. That He is righteous, glorious, perfect, holy and anything else good I can think of and everything else that I can not. And somewhere in His unexplainable grace He has found it fit to save a me and call me His own. In this new found stillness, I keep preaching these to my heart over and over again in hopes that it will really sink in.