This is going to be a longer one, but bear with me, I felt that I should share this one, as God really spoke to me with this particular passage. One day this month, during my quiet time, I read Genesis chapter 16, which is when Sarai, after not bearing any children to Abram, tells him to have a child with Hagar, Sarai’s slave. Hagar ends up conceiving Ishmael and encounters God after running away. There are few important things I noticed about this passage. First of all, Hagar was an Egyptian slave to Sarai, in this context, if a woman was unable to conceive a child to her husband, her husband could have a child with her slave, and that child could still be considered the wife’s, treating the slave like a surrogate. Hagar had no choice in this matter, and the passage also tells us that she was mistreated by Sarai, causing her to run away. Now we have Hagar, wrapped up in a problem of faithlessness by somebody else, pregnant, alone and probably feeling hopeless. Then God calls her, and not only that, but he calls her by name. We don’t know how much about God Hagar knew, given that she was Egyptian, she may have worshipped Egyptian gods, who by their religion would never have noticed a slave girl; but this was now no doubt to her the one true God. She wasn’t even running to God, she was just running away from a bad situation, she didn’t ask for God to show up, and yet he met her where she was at, he knew her name, he saw her and he chose her. He saw her as more than just a slave and he saw her suffering. During this encounter, God commands Hagar to return to Sarai and submit to her authority, and then gives her a promise. He said “I will greatly multiply your offspring” (v10). I noticed he didn’t tell her that he would multiply Abrams offspring, but hers. Abram already had a promise, and that was still to be fulfilled through Sarai, not Hagar, and even though there is now another son, not the one who was originally promised to Abram, God doesn’t forget this son or Hagar, instead he makes another promise, because despite this situation being because of the unbelief of Abram and Sarai, God is going to use it for good. After this promise the Lord tells Hagar that he has heard her cry of affliction, that even though it seemed like no one saw her or heard her, God did. He tells her to name her son Ishmael and that from him would come too many descendants to count, another great nation. After this the Bible says that Hagar named the Lord (v13). She called him El-roi, saying “have I actually seen the one who sees me?” How special must she have felt, to see one that actually sees her. I can’t think of another time someone gave a name to God, everywhere else in the Bible, God reveals his name to us. So what’s the point of all this? Hagar was alone, no husband, no one to look after her, and no one to see her suffering. Have you ever felt like that? Suffering in some way and feeling like no one sees you? I know I have; but the beautiful thing about this passage is that God does see our suffering, and not only that but he gives us purpose in the midst of it and uses it for good. He knows our names and he is faithful to us. He hears our cries and sees our tears. Hagar saw her worth in her womb, in a culture that told women their fertility was where their worth was held, but God said she was so much more, she wasn’t just a womb, she was a woman found by God. When we put our worth into what we can do or how useful we can be, Hagar’s story reminds us that our identity is in being chosen as sons and daughters of God, whom he cares about immensely, and he loves us because he wants to, not because of what we can do for him or anyone else. The name Ishmael means “God will hear,” because God heard Hagar, and he hears us. I needed this reminder this month, that God actually sees me. This story doesn’t take away from God’s promise to Abraham, Abraham’s faithfulness or the miracle of Isaac. God reveals his plans for both Ishmael and Isaac to Abraham in the next chapter and makes his original promise to Abraham clear again, and we see this promise played out throughout the entire Bible. What this story shows is that even when we aren’t faithful, or we find ourselves in situations where we feel alone or ignored, God is still faithful, and he uses our stories for His good. Whether we’re like Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac or someone else, he has good plans for us and is faithful to his promises. 

I also discovered a song this week called “Isaac” by Madalyn Rae, which was very fitting for where I’m at in my Bible reading plan right now. The song is about not withholding anything and trusting God, and loving God himself more than his promises. Something that can be really difficult at times, especially when we are going through something really hard and just want to see how God could possibly use it for good, we can forget to just focus on Him in the midst of it, even if we don’t understand how he’s working right now. I really love this song right now, and it’s a good reminder of what trusting the Lord really means. I’m putting the chorus lyrics below.

 

And even when You tell me

To lay my Isaac on the altar

You’ll find that I don’t love

The promise more than You

And even though I believe

That You’ll provide a ram

Who am I

As a man

Not to trust You?

• We started off the month sick, unfortunately.
• Valentine’s day!
• Barrio Clinic
• We’ve been cooking and baking lots of new things
• Bianca’s Birthday!
• We got to visit some very good friends

A Rough Start to the month

Kamanda was here for a little while and we got to spend time with her for one evening; I got my nails done with her and her sister and we all had dinner together with another friend, and then we woke up the next morning feeling sick and were practically bed ridden the rest of the time she was here. I was really looking forward to spending more time with her but it is what it is, and she’ll be back. The other major bummer was that we missed out on a nearly full week with the team that was here that week. A team from Northwoods was here and the few conversations we had with some of the people on the team was really nice and I wish I could have gotten to know them better. I also felt super bad for not getting to help with anything that week, as I wanted to more than anything, but I had strep throat and really didn’t want to spread that to anyone. Between the two of us Christian and I had quite the list of symptoms for almost an entire week, Christian was even sick for a little longer than I was with way more symptoms; though nothing was going to get in the way of date night, so we ordered food in and ate the best alfredo in town from our bed and watched our show together, which was about the most either of us were up to doing. We are finally better and happy to be back to work. Personally I hate being sick, I feel guilty everytime I’m sick because I feel like I should be doing more even though everyone is telling me to rest, and I also get incredibly bored while also being so tired from the sickness. So I’m praising the Lord for the fact that I’m healthy now and also praying against any more illness.

Happy Valentines Day

I used to not make a big deal about valentine’s day, but now I really can’t refuse an opportunity to celebrate love and have an extra date night. I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast in the morning, and Christian made Crab Rangoon inspired quesadillas for lunch (I love crab rangoons and sushi, and have been craving that recently, so it was an extremely thoughtful and satisfying meal), and for dinner we tried a new restaurant. I was surprised in the morning with a full bouquet of fresh flowers waiting for me as well as my favorite chocolate, Cookies n cream Hershey’s kisses. He also gave me two flower lego sets, which is a tradition now since the first valentine’s day we spent together when we were dating, he gave me lego roses for us to build together, so now every valentine’s day he gets us a lego flower set to put together, though this year I was surprised with two. If you know me well, you know that both sets fit my personality really well. One was a turtle with its shell covered in flowers and other pretty plants, which my animal loving heart thought was very cute. The other set was a dark colored rose bouquet, which is just fitting for me, as I have always loved the aesthetic of this kind of stuff. It also reminds me a bit of Wednesday Addams, one of my favorite fictional characters. All this to say, my husband knows me better than anyone else, and I’m so grateful to have someone like him. It was a very nice day to spend together and we’re really blessed to have had the opportunity to do all of this and be able to spend so much time together. 

Barrio Clinic

I got to go with one of the teams for a day this month and help with one of our barrio clinics. I was glad to have had the time to do it, I was able to get to know a few people on the team a little better and help direct people on where to go for most of the day. I don’t have any picture of me actually doing anything but I did of course take pictures of the beautiful tree on the site and a cute dog.

This Month’s Cooking Adventures

We had some lovely friends over one night this month and Christian made Chicken Parm for everyone, with his own homemade sauce. It not only tasted delicious but smelled and looked amazing, and I wish I remembered to take a photo of the dish but I did not. Everyone at dinner was thoroughly impressed with his cooking skills and we were both happy to be able to host some friends and spend some time together. 

I made an Oreo dump cake, because Oreos were on sale and I wanted to try it, and I think it came out really good, and I will definitely make it again sometime (as a certified cookies n cream lover, how could I not?). 

Christian made a tasty ramen noodle dish, complete with beef and a sauce, it was perfectly creamy and spicy, one of my favorite dishes this month. 

I made a creamy shrimp and tomato alfredo pasta with roasted peppers, which we both enjoyed a lot. Christian asked if I’d make it again soon, which is how I know when he really likes something, and honestly I enjoyed it so much I’d be very happy to make it again. 

We found some good looking salmon and a sweet pineapple teriyaki sauce at Sirena, so I put those together with some rice and roasted broccoli to make another one of my favorite dinners this month. 

Perhaps we should also start a cooking blog…

Happy Birthday!

We got to celebrate Bianca’s 30th birthday with her and more friends and enjoyed good food, music, and company. It was a good time all around and we were happy to get to be part of the celebration.

Friends Visit!

We got to leave San Juan for a couple of days and see our good friends who are also missionaries and live near the Capital, Santo Domingo. The time spent with them was worth every minute of the long, bumpy bus ride. They picked us up from the bus stop and took us to a Japanese-Dominican fusion restaurant where we ate sushi, and then back to their house for games until late in the evening. The next day was spent touring their compound, watching a baseball game, eating some amazing food, playing more games and getting to spend time and get to know each other. It was such a blessing to hangout with our friends and make a few more good friends. Our last day together, we played more games in the morning and then stopped for Starbucks and TacoBell before getting back on the bus to San Juan. Over the course of a couple of days we played several rounds of each, Jackbox games, The Chameleon, Hellapagos, Flip 7, and Bang, most of these being new games for us, but we certainly discovered some new favorites.  It’s always fun to get together with people, and board games/ card games always tend to bring out some fun sides of people.

Prayer requests: 

• Protection from illness and injury
• Strength and courage to keep pursuing difficult challenges
• For both of us to have good routines for our time with the Lord, and to be able to ignore the many distractions that come with that. 
• That God will move our hearts toward whatever his will is for us, especially in regards to staying here longer or moving back home at the end of the year 
• Madison’s struggle with sleep insomnia and getting enough rest in general for both of us.
• For good relationships with those around us while we’re here, and that we can find our place in our community.