It Always Comes Back To This...Music.

I guess this post is more on the serious side. I want to share with you something that God has really been laying on my heart these past couple days and that is music...my music. These past couple weeks have been really hard spiritually. I have even come to the point where I am questioning my faith - do I really believe what I say that I believe? How can I know for sure that I am saved? How can I know that Jesus is who He says He is? Why am I a coward when it comes to sharing my faith or doing something for Christ? I have had a really hard time sleeping because of this, and because of this I started putting on music to help me fall asleep. I began listening to my old music that I had recorded. I started listening to the lyrics I had written, and I realized that I really meant it when I wrote these lyrics. It was as if..as if I was speaking to God straight from my heart as if we were in conversation. At times, when I wrote those lyrics, He dropped the words into my mind one by one until a song was produced that I can go back to and be comforted by, encouraged by, challenged by. I miss this. I miss writing with God. I miss playing my piano after everyone has gone to bed. I miss this intimacy with my Father. I miss those nights when all I could do is gently play a melody as the tears rolled down my cheeks. It was the only thing that made sense to me.

I have been away from God for far too long in this area of my life. Being here in Chile has reminded me that God has given me this gift to connect with Him, to become more intimate with Him. He has also given me this gift to nurture and share with others. I realized this, because I have no piano here. I don't have my guitar here. I have my old music though, and it is revitalizing me. I am reminded that Jesus is real. He has been there in my life every step of the way. I am reminded through music that my relationship with Him is real. 

Tonight I read through Psalm 27, and it hit everything that I needed encouragement in. I would like to share some verses that really spoke to me.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, and my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army may besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident." 

vs. 1-5

As you can see from my underlinings, I have been fearful to do the work of Jesus lately. It all seems to scary and much, but the Lord is with me. Also, here is a couple more verse that spoke to me:

"My heart says of you, "Seek His face!" Your face oh Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn from your servant in anger for you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, o God my Savior." 

vs. 8-9

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." 

vs. 13-14

 

¡Temblor!

Last night I experienced my first temblor (tremor). I woke up last night for a while, and I couldn't sleep. All the sudden the earth shook really violently and then stopped. It was only for a second or two - one good shake. It was crazy. I guess it was abnormal - bigger than normal. Hopefully we don't get anything bigger!! =)

En Toma with Pics

the front of my school

lots of posters

the locked doors with their demands written on posters

En Toma

So my school has been on strike since Friday afternoon. I'll have to put up pictures later. (En Toma = On Strike). The students want to free tuition, and I guess whenever people want stuff here, they strike. Camila says people go on strike all the time. However, the international students still have class. It is an interesting experience having to go into the school through a secret-side door since the main school is closed, well, more like chained up with signs and posters up all around. It also was an interesting experience sitting in class, hearing a demonstration going on outside of the school with people yelling, chanting, clapping. I'll take pictures when I go back for class this afternoon.

Off to get pizza for lunch.

Here are some pictures from my excursion yesterday. I'll talk more about it later...

What a beautiful day!

Today is just gorgeous. The sun is out. It's 60 degrees out. I decided to walk home today. I was walking by the ocean, watching the waves crash against the rock and thought of this song.

I'm so tired. Today was good.

Today was a good day. This weekend was a great weekend. A nice, long weekend.

Friday was really fun, because I went to Brianna's for lunch with her and her mom. We had yummy food :) After that, Bri and I walked back to my house - it took us about 45 minutes. After we got back to my house, Patito, Cristina, and I gave her a tour of the apartment. Then, we went out to the veranda and took pictures. Patito came out and helped us out a bit. He was quite the photographer. haha After that we hung out till Colin came over. Once he got over we couldn't figure out what we wanted to do so I asked Cristina if there was anything fun to do on the weekends. She didn't say "mira" which kind of means "look" and she brought us to the table, set out a table cloth, and brought out cards. haha Bri, Colin, and I looked at each other and smiled. It's not exactly what we meant when we asked her if there was anything to do here, but it ended up being GREAT. Us three and Cristina and Patito played cards until Once. Then, after Once we watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Spanish version of course) then watched Clue. It was really, really fun.

Saturday, I did homework in the morning and then in the afternoon Cristina's son and his family came over. It was better this weekend, because I understood the conversation where-as last weekend I couldn't understand a thing when we were with their friends. My Spanish is getting better =D Then Saturday night Colin, Bri, and I walked around Viña, went to a restaurant for Colin to get dinner (I just got water and tea), walked around Viña more, went to the mall and walked around, then went to this place called Nubes Bar (Clouds Bar). It was really funny, because it is a bar that has a coffee-shop feel with acoustic, live music. You would think you were in a coffee shop until you saw the bar. We all ordered a drink, sat back, talked, and listened to the live music. After that we all went home. It was another great night =D

Today, I went to a church here in Viña. It was great being able to back with a body of believers. I can't wait till I can go back. It was so cool to see people on a completely different continent worshiping the same God. =) After church, Colin, Bri, and I went on an adventure. We took the metro till the end, then hopped on a bus, and ended up in a little town called Olmue. We didn't know anything about this town except that Colin's mom said we should go there because it is beautiful and there are things to do. We had no idea what to expect. Well, it was a pleasant surprise. It was soooo BEAUTIFUL. It is surrounded by mountains and is just a little, really old Chilean town. However, I was really dressed for the occasion. I had a  nice sweater on and my black boots that I wore to church, but it still was reallllly fun. We got the best empanadas at a small little restaurant (super cheap too!), went shopping at the art tents, and went walking up into the mountains. Colin and I are going to go back and go hiking. I'm super duper excited. Here are some pictures from the past few days:

We went out to dinner this past Thursday night and this was my little expresso coffee that was really good! (and small)

My beautiful ring in a flower in our garden.

My ring and another rose :)

Bri and I during our mini photo shoot on the veranda :) 

Silly Picture!

Cuchito, our cat, and I

More of Bre and I (this is outside the window of my bedroom)

Our garden - beautiful!

At dinner Saturday night

At Nubes Bar with our drinks :)

At the metro station in Limache, waiting for the bus to take us to Olmue

The outside of the sign outside the restaurant we ate at. 

The view I had while eating my empanada outside =)

The plaza at Olmue

Colin and I at lunch

the little restaurant 

My empanada and tea!

inside my empanada  - mmm!! 

mountains in Olmue

More mountains

more beautiful mountains

Colin and I during our hike

walking through Olmue on our mini hike 

Before I go, I just want to say thank-you to those who have been praying for me. I just know that God has been working through those prayers. This past week was hard, but this weekend just turned out to be great. I was on my knees a lot in prayer - some times in requesting but a lot of it in praise because of what I have seen God been doing in my life this weekend. =)

One other thing - I just wanted to say how proud I am of my fiancé Jordan, because he passed his state exam to transact accident and health insurance. He has been working so hard to achieve this. I am so thankful to God for being so faithful and good in helping Jordan through this exam.