Well Done

I'm frequently immobile throughout the day when I sit down and nurse little D and now that she's in that stage where her maturing brain is not letting her nap well during the day, I also spend a good deal of the day soothing her to sleep either in my arms or in the bouncy seat where I bounce her with my foot while I do something else. So while nursing or gently bouncing little D to sleep, I usually have a book or my laptop.

This morning, I had already sat down and started nursing little D when I felt ready to have my time with the Father but didn't have the Good Book next to me. I did have my laptop so I went to a website I frequently go to for Sunday morning "lectures", if you catch my drift, articles, devotions, and anything I can learn from or be encouraged. I recently started reading short biographies on this website and today, I selected this famous man who lived and then died at the age of 29 in the 1700s, working among the Indians in the New England area. His diaries were published posthumously (which makes me cringe to think of all the diaries I have written in - hope they don't ever get published!) and became such an encouragement to people afterwards that this book, published in the 1700s, have never gone out of print.

The person to whom the website belongs enumerated reasons why the life of this man who died at 29 years old was such an encouragement to many people for two centuries. Two centuries. Amazing. As I read through them, I was encouraged myself. The young man endured a lot of hardships and a good deal of them was related to his health. He had tuberculosis and suffered with it for 9 years until his death. Through all the poor health, wracking coughs and pain, and other trials, he kept working among the Indians faithfully.

One particular hardship that this man struggled with encouraged me. He frequently felt tremendous compassion and love for the Indians he worked to reach with the Good News. He also frequently felt lack of compassion and ardency for the lost state of their souls and even dreaded speaking to the Indians as he went out to them and he expressed guilt about it. I definitely relate to this, especially the guilt. It's this particular struggle, among others, that has caused me to wonder many times why the Father called me to come here. I felt as if this struggle was an indication that I should not be here, that I should be sent home in shame.

I was suddenly reminded this morning of the parable LJC told of the talents. Three servants were entrusted with talents by their master who was leaving on a long journey. Two obeyed his command concerning the talents; one did not. When the master returned, his response to the two obedient servants were: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The master praised their obedience - not whether they felt like being obedient.

This great man remained faithful and obedient until he died. Furthermore, this great man that everyone admires was a normal man who, besides the trials, had normal struggles with periods of discouragement, depression, spiritual dryness, lack of ardency for the lost, etc and yet the Father called this man to the Indians. LJC calls the imperfect, ordinary, weak people. Now I don't feel so bad....

So, it doesn't matter that I don't feel good enough and that I don't always feel compassion, love, and utmost concern for the lost people I am called to; my flesh is weak and my tender Father knows. What matters is that I am faithful to obey my calling in spite of it. I can approach the throne with confidence and ask for abundant gr@ce and energy to do what I am called to do each day and receive more than enough. When I come face to face with LJC one day, I want to hear from him:

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Darcy Brynn

I posted about Darcy's birth on the girls' blog if you're interested in reading about the labor and delivery: (click here)  or
copy and paste the following: http://kidrobinett.blogspot.com/2012/08/darcy-brynns-birth.html

This Is How We Roll

We're totally rocking this funny little foreign car. It's a Fiat Doblo, assigned to us by our company, a stick shift and drives like a van. Note the hubcap - it's the only one left on the entire car. I know I lost one hubcap side-swiping a car. We used to share this car with another family who has lost a hubcap or two.

It's madness driving in this densely populated city that suffers from terrible congestion in their streets and highways. For example, it took us 2 hours to drive 20 miles from the airport to our house today. Google Maps will tell you that it should take you 29 minutes to drive that 20-mile route from the airport. HA! Why did it take us 2 hours? There are a lot of bottlenecks on that route and too many people driving.

Here, drivers do not drive in an orderly way and they cut each other off constantly. Horns blare all the time. There are millions of one-way streets and the city isn't planned very well at all. It can be bewildering. I sideswiped a car and lost the hubcap because I was driving on a very narrow cobblestone street with both sides jammed with parallel-parked cars. I don't like driving here and don't drive very far - just in my municipality (friends' houses, grocery store, park, etc). G loves driving here because it's challenging and he drives with one hand on the horn perpetually.

Definitely experiencing city life....