Be anxious for nothing...

Wow, our journey has been so amazing coming to and living in Australia.  When I look back and see what we have overcome it is so obvious that God has prepared the entire path.  So I ask myself why do I choose to walk amongst underbrush when I can just keep on the clear path?  When we first got here I was amazed by God's blessings--we had furniture in our house to start with, plus we had amazing housemates, and we only had to walk 30 minutes to church.  I am amazed at how quickly our circumstances changed to being overwhelmed by the rent, annoyed by housemates differences, and it takes almost 30 minutes to school and church several times a day, and we have to take a bus to the grocery.  

So God blessed us with a car so we could get out more and help give others a ride...(it feels good being able to serve others:).  In all this I continued to let myself get anxious about no work for Matt, our car at home not selling, and our rent/other bills coming around faster and faster each week.  Above all, I can only work 20 hours a week.  How boring, I have that Windall blood and we all know how much a Windall likes to sit around...:).  So I just had more time to worry.  Finally, I realized that worrying was not helping, I was just losing sleep and becoming obnoxious to those around me (I am sure Matt will agree.)  

Anyhow, to make a very long story short I had some moments that gave me direction.  I realized I too am here for a purpose and was introduced to many courses that Hillsong offers that I could take and possibly facilitate one day (here or there).  I also found out about some places that I could take violin lessons to continue improving my skills and possibly add students.  

Great, I have some goals, but that money thing always comes back to my mind.  So I work when I can and we have been trying to limit our food spending to $10 a day (total not each).  It all helps.  I don't know what flipped the switch in my head, but I suddenly remembered where this all began and that God would provide.  I entered the "Trust God Zone".  

So the next day, dad phones and tells us that our car has sold.  Not only that, but I realized my hours were becoming increasingly steady as the weeks continued.

 I have to stop...look back at those restless nights and financial discussions and only imagine how foolish I must have looked.  All the while I was worrying, planning, and calculating, GOD was taking care of us.  And why am I surpised, why don't we grab hold of God's promises.  He tells us all through the Bible that he will supply our needs....and He is faithful.  It is I who needs the reminders.  

Well, in God's ever so clever irony, he prepared a very special message just for me at sisterhood this week.  The lesson was on change (which I have experienced a bit in the past few months).  The speaker talked how often we are going one direction and God calls us in a completely opposite direction (I chuckle...yep, that's me).  What really confirmed my experiences was the zone she described in the middle.  That "Trust God Zone".  It is when we are not sure why we have changed directions, and we do not know where we are headed.  What we do know is that God brought us from our past and is preparing our perfect future.  What right do we have to ruin our gift of today by stressing over the things of tomorrow.  Those things we cannot see.  As I learned God sees the whole picture and those insignificant things are stepping stones to perfection.  We are so unaware of His every movements...so just trust (it is easier that way) plus His plan is always better than anything we could figure out.  

I will leave you with this cool thought...It is almost as if God started at the end of the story and has written the story of our lives in reverse.  Every moment is created to produce a masterpiece.  My Life and Yours.

One of the ways you COULD spend $8 in Australia

You could...but we didn't--many thanks to our awesome housemate Sabrina for spoiling us!!!

Easter Weekend

It is kind of weird celebrating Easter in the middle of fall, and what a shock when we learned that Good Friday and Easter are recognized as public holidays in Australia.  We had a really great long weekend starting with Good Friday services on (obviously) Friday morning.  It was such a great time to reflect on the sacrifice God made for us.  So often I feel like we don't spend enough time truly remembering what those three days must have been like for all those surrounding Jesus.  

On Saturday morning we had a barbecue with our neighborhood we go to for street teams.  We had a great turn out.  We decorated eggs with the kids, made easter baskets and gave out lots of lollies.  When we came home we found that our housemate had made a huge Easter meal for most of the college houses in our neighborhood so we had 23 people over for lunch.  It was so yummy!!!

On Sunday, we played a special at the beginning of the Chinese Extension service.  It was a medley of Easter hymns/choruses.  Matt sang in English and they displayed the words translated into mandarin on the screen behind us.  In the afternoon, we needed rest to keep going.  During the evening services, we had a super powerful celebration service.  The church has started an art and film festival surrounding Easter themes, and they used the short films to emphasize the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  If you get a chance you should check them out at www.myhillsong.com/artfestival .

We hope that you all had a great Easter! We are so lucky to have developed great friendships here so that we are not sooo lonely, but we miss you all dearly and are so grateful for your love and support. Happy Easter!!

The Moon

Beautiful Lookout Point

After an afternoon at the beach, we went driving around and found Sydney Harbour National Park.  It was a lot of trees as would be expected until we rounded a corner and found this awesome lookout point with a view of Sydney across the water.  We found it right as the sun was setting.  It was beautiful.  Pictures just don't do it justice...I guess you will just have to come and visit.  We have added it to our visitors itinerary.  :) And we are still trying to figure out what a Bandicoot is...more to come on that.

Palm Sunday at the beach

April 2, 2009

Happy Anniversary!  Four years of wedded bliss and we get to spend it in Australia..How wonderful!!!  We had a great day...we spent a little time shopping at Ikea and had swedish meatballs for lunch, Yum!! Tiff had to teach a violin lesson in the evening so we planned to go for dinner after the lesson.  To our pleasant surprise...our housemates called us on our way home and informed us that we were not to make plans for dinner because they were preparing it for us.  What a treat! Francis and Sabrina took the 30 minute walk to and from the grocery store to prepare a feast for us.  For starters we had salad and potato wedges.  Then we had steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and tomato salad.  For dessert we had fruit salad, chocolate fondue, and  chocolate hummina, hummina, hummina, !!! Of course, we enjoyed all of this with a game of scrabble...We are so blessed to be in this house.  We are so loved by our housemates!!!