Whirlwind

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power...His way is in the whirlwind and the clouds are the dust of His feet. -Nahum 1:3

Today I sit in a dark cool basement far far away from all the sights and places I have experienced this past year. In a couple weeks I will be setting off on an all new adventure to the shores of the USA where I will be attending College and "The Masters College" in Santa Clarita, California. As look back over my final month in Europe and the month I've now spent in the states I can think of no better word to describe it, but : Whirlwind.

My last post here was a short description of my time in Ireland. Some people might refer to that week as the calm before the storm. As many of you know the news I received my last day on that little green island in the Atlantic set my whole world spinning, and changed life as i knew it forever. 

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You. - 2 Chronicles 20:12b

As I went through the motions of school, work, and life back in Hungary each day anxiously awaiting news of my mothers diagnosis, I was at once relieved that her sudden seizures were not caused by cancer or a tumor, only to find out a week later that it had been a miss-diagnosis, and in actuality she had a tumor the size of a golf ball on the left side of her brain.

For as long as I live I will never forget that night or the following day when I questioned everything. When it seemed that my life was closing in around me and there was nothing I could do about it but sit and watch my world crashing in, helpless to fix it or stop it. 

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face...then will I hear from heaven... 2 Chronicles 7:14

But then something amazing happened. I believe it's called the Body of Christ. My room mates, friends, classmates, staff leaders, people I'd never met a day in my life,  prayed. Hundreds of God people throughout all creation paused even if for one brief moment to lift the burden of another to heaven. I felt every one of those prayers, and I know I'm not the only one. Prayer is a powerful thing.

And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus-Philipians 4:19

 

As my family went through the process of deciding on the appropriate course of action. I went through the motions of the life I'd become so accustomed to in Hungary awaiting their decision and learning to trust in the Lord on a whole new level. I remember looking around, in the past, at other families and friends of mine who had parents and siblings experience things like cancer, and being somewhat in awe of their strength, and wondering how in the world they managed to go about their lives normally when it seemed everything was wrong. Well now I'm one of those people and I must say, I've discovered on a very personal level that the verse above (Phil. 4:19) applies to far more than just putting food on the table. For in the past months I've seen the Lord provide not only for all mine and my families financial needs, but even more outstandingly for my emotional and spiritual needs. God really will NEVER give you more than you can bear, and He will ALWAYS supply you with the courage, faith, trust and strength you need for each and every day, hour and minute. Not more than you need, but certainly never less. His methods may vary, but He will ALWAYS, ALWAYS care for his children. Did you see that? Read it again. I mean what I say. I can't count the ways He used my roommates and friends in those final weeks as began the process of leaving school early in order to arrive back in the USA in time for my mother surgery. But it didn't even end there They have continued even now to be the very hand and feet of Christ, along with many others, as my mom has undergone, surgery and treatment. I love them all so very much and can never thank them enough.

If we are faithless He will remain faithful for He cannot disown Himself. - 2 Timothy 2:13

The end of my little adventure was not how I expected it to be. I missed my graduation, and my European Excursions were cut short. But I came to the point where those things didn't matter so much. While those were my plans, they obviously weren't Gods. I had lots of plans for this summer, and so did God, but they weren't the same. Now sitting on the other side of this phase of the whirlwind I know I've grown in immeasurable ways through it all and must conclude God's plan is infinitely better. Who am I to question His methods? Of course I didn't always feel that way. I don't want to give the impression that my faith through out this whole thing was always what it should have been. I'm only human, but thank God for his grace and mercy. That he would chose to shape and mold a sinner like me is astounding.

I remember relating to my RA that my whole "Word of Life Hungary" experience had turned into something of a furnace. She smiled at me, and with a little laugh said, "Mishaela, sometimes it's good to be in the flames." I couldn't agree more, if God want to refine us as through fire, then so be it. 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17

Despite all the chaos surrounding my last days I was able to make some incredible final memories, ones that I know I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Here are some pictures of those last few weeks, God truly did bless me, even during this time.

This was actually before Spring Break, but I couldn't finish this blog with out a little bit of my Lillian visit on here. Lillian came to visit me for about a week on her way back from Israel. It was so special to get to share my new temporary home with her!

I like to refer to this as my ultimate worlds collide picture - Brasil and Hungary =) Abi and I took the day off school one day to show Lillian around Budapest =)

(Me, Abi, Lillian)

~insert Spring Break Rome and Ireland trips here~

My last week in hungary the Word of Life Missions reality group from New York came. They spent time ministering in the public schools and many other things. one day we had a picture scavenger hunt...this task was to get the whole team on the tire swing =)

*I also want to insert a thank-you to this team here for all their prayers for my mom and family...many of them came up to me during the week , though i had never met them before, just to let me know that they had heard about my mom back in New York and were praying.

on my second last weekend in Hungary our whole dorm with the exception of Miri went into Budapest just to be able to spend time together before we all got separated. Yana and I sang at a christian coffee house in town and we all spent the next day just being together. 

(marie-Pier, Emi, Me, Yana, Steph, Marianne)

We had a little Picnic on Margit island on the Danube.

(Steph, marianne, Yana, Me, Marie-Pier, Emi)

I love her =)

(me, yana)

Yana playing her disciplinary mother role =P

(Yana, steph, marie-pier, Me, Marianne, Emi)

On my second to last day a group of us took a bike ride down to the next village to go to the sweet shop or Cukrázda.

(Jonathan, Marianne, Trisha, Me)

We had lots of cake and ice cream and laughs =)

(Trisha, Me, Marianne)

On the way back to Toalmas we stopped on the side of the road to run through a canola field.

(marianne, Me)

From the sweet shop I rode straight to a pizza party with all my fellow Brasilians that we had been planning for the whole semester and finally fit in to my very last weekend.

(Gabriel, karine, me, Luana, Roberto, and David is behind the camera )

My last day - in between classes we went and took pictures for old times sake =)

(yana, marianne, marie-pier, Me, Miri)

The next morning, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 I put my last few possessions in my suitcases, and said good-bye to the people who had been my family for the past year. My dorm presented me with a notebook that they had passed around the school for people to sign, and lots of other little gifts that tied into the many many memories we made together. As i sat in my airplane seat jetting across the Altlantic, reliving all my precious memories, and reading everyone's notes. One of them ended like this :

" Life is short [and hard at times] , but what a gift."

Interestingly that rings truer to me now that it did then, but the phrase stuck with me. My European Excursions can be described as nothing else. A good and perfect gift, from my loving Father of heavenly lights. 

The Lord has watched over my coming and my going, He watches over me both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:8 -   (revised & personalized) 

thanks for reading =)

The End