To Live with the God who Sees Us.

God has been teaching me this week that it's alright to be brokenhearted and righteous.  Just because we are in a relationship with Jesus does not mean that we have to be happy all the time.  God created us to be emotional beings and to love deeply.  As I read Job and he screams his heart out to Jesus, it's not a bad thing as his friends portray it to be, it's real, it's true, it's how he feels.  Job refuses to deny God, and yet he refuses to wear a mask of how he truly is feeling.  Just like God calls us to be vulnerable with each others he also calls us to be vulnerable with him.

Here are the haps down here in Nica:

1.  SURPRISE ICE CREAM OUTING.  Ice cream down in Nicas is the most fun, especially because it is so dang hot, and especially when they are surprises.  We told our friends we would be practicing music, little did they know we would actually be eating a delectable treat-- and laughing a lot.  We also decided to come back to the project and practice our dancing.

2.  I got to ride back to the project on the front of Santiago's bike-- so fun, and I loved getting to know his heart better, his smile lights up my day.

3.  Was able to experience a Nicaraguan festival-- interesting to say the least.  A lot of horses, people, and sugar covered apples!

4.  A new fun team came in last Tuesday!  We have been on so many adventures it's crazy!  We started our week a Cerro Negro.  We hiked  and took communion on top of the volcano.  This was then followed by  one of the craziest storm I've ever experienced in my life. We were soaked to the bone, phones, and cameras were broken-- CRAY.  Then we all froze as we drove back to project-- being cold in Nica is a weird thing.  

5.  We've been a lot of adventures, tacos in Bethel, activities for widows and sick men, basketball game in a near by city,  church service in Pueblo Rotundo, and a ROCKING Fourth of July party-- we even had some sketchy fireworks.  It has definitely been weird not being in my regular routine-- but has been so good to be with these incredible people serving the Lord.

6.  The past few days we traveled to the Nicaraguan mountains in Matagalpa.  It was cold, and beautiful, and so life getting.  Getting to hang out with some youth from Bethel and grow together as we dug into God's words and what it really means to live a healthy Christian life.  It was a beautiful mix of cultures and to see how God is doing what he does best, restoring relationships.

We are off to the beach with some friends now, and was just encouraged this morning with the words of Hagar this morning, "You are the God who sees me."  Lord thank you for knowing our hearts, before we can even express how we are feeling in words.  Thank you for wanting us to be vulnerable with you, and not fake.  I pray that we continue to learn what it looks like to live with you, so that in you we can discover our true selves.  Amen.