Hello Brasil '11 team members - I just sent invitations so you can join the blog & post to it - that way we can share what God is doing as we get ready for the trip, & encourage each other. Let's each post something a couple times a week. Here's my first one:

On Tuesday night, I read Hebrews 12, & thought about verse 11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

It's a hard verse to accept, and yet such a powerful one once I understand that when God disciplines me it's because He loves me, & because He wants me to be fruitful & strong. So when things are really hard, I can thank Him for what He's working in me, even when I don't understand it.

It reminded me of Romans 5:3-5 - "We rejoice in our sufferings, for we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us." This is one of my life verses, because there have certainly been times of suffering. But that suffering is what's made me into the person I am today - tested by fire, refined, & leaning on Him for strength. During the times of suffering I wish it would end, but after it's finished I can look back & see His handprints all over the situation, & I know He has been holding me, carrying me, loving me, and making me more like Him.

Father, as I prepare for serving in Brasil, please make me open to Your discipline. Let me see everything that happens as coming from Your loving hand, and let me see it as something You are using for good. In Jesus' name, Amen.