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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Loss and gain

Oh, job interviews. Sigh. I am so quickly overwhelmed and despairing. Weighed down by doubts and fears and shame. This is how I make it through the next hour, the next day. Thank you Lord.


When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Watts/ Mason
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I like Research

I really do.

That doesn't mean I want to do it full time for the rest of my life, but I get excited when cool things happen. Like the Farm Bill in which "
Congress Makes Substantial "Down Payment" toward a Fair Share for Organic Agriculture Research" as an article by the Organic Farming Research Foundation explained.

"It's not just about supporting organic farmers," commented Steve Ela, of OFRF. "Organic research has already demonstrated important benefits for consumers and the environment, from reducing pesticide contamination in children's diets to conserving the health of pollinators. It can make a huge contribution to storing carbon in living soil. Added investment in more and better organic farming practices is part of solving many of the urgent issues we all face."

Hurray!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Six things as the world groans

The devastating earthquake in China and cyclones in Myanmar demand our consideration and prayers. It is a good reminder, for me, to look past the small trials and tribulations we experience on earth. What a time to draw near to God and share his ways .


Thanks to Agape Way for this guide. (I left in the Chinese script because it's cool.)

SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE AND OURSELVES: A PRAYER GUIDE

  1. 在上帝面前承認,我們的心憂傷,也沒有能力安慰憂傷的心靈。求上帝按照祂的恩典憐憫我們,安慰我們眾人,更按照祂的應許與我們眾人同在。

    Let us acknowledge before God that our hearts are grieving, and we do not have the power to comfort souls who grieve. Pray that the Lord have mercy on us, according to his grace, and hover over us with his presence, as he promised.

    「上帝阿,求你憐憫我。因為我的心投靠你。我要投靠在你翅膀的蔭下,等到災害過去。」(《詩篇》571

    “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” Psalm 57:1

    「我們在一切患難中,祂就安慰我們,叫我們能用上帝所賜的安慰,去安慰那遭各樣患難的人。」(《哥林多後書》14

    “… so that we may be able to comfort those whoa re in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (II Corinthians 1:4)


  1. 在上帝面前承認,我們不能解釋所發生的事。求主賜下智慧,教導我們。

    Acknowledge before God that we do not know how to interpret the events happening around us. May God give us wisdom and teach us.

    「凡事都有定期,天下萬務都有定時。生有時,死有時。栽種有時,拔出所栽種的有時。殺戮有時,醫治有時。拆毀有時,建造有時。哭有時,笑有時。哀動有時,跳舞有時。尋找有時,失落有時。保守有時,捨棄有時。撕裂有時,縫補有時。靜默有時,言語有時。」(取自《傳道書》31-11

    For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…” (from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)

    「因為受造之物服在虛空之下,不是自己願意,乃是因那叫它如此的。但受造之物仍然指望脫離敗壞的轄制,得享上帝兒女自由的榮耀。」(《羅馬書》820-21

    “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20-21)

    「誰曉得你怒氣的權勢,誰按著你該受的敬畏曉得你的忿怒呢?求你指教我們怎樣數算自己的日子,好叫我們得著智慧的心。」(《詩篇9011-12

    “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:11-12


  1. 向主承認,我們的生命都在祂的手中,若不是祂憐憫,我們不可能活在世上一天。

    Acknowledge before the Lord that our lives are all in his hands. If it were not for his mercy, we would not live on earth for a day.

    「我赤身出於母胎,也必赤身歸回。賞賜的是耶和華,收取的也是耶和華。耶和華的名是應當稱頌的。」(《約伯記》121

    “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21


  1. 求上帝憐憫中國政府各部門,賜智慧,解除所有攔阻,叫賑災工作順利進行。

    Pray that God would have mercy on China’s government and her various agencies, give them wisdom, and remove all obstacles that relief work may proceed smoothly.

    「我勸你們第一要為萬人懇求,禱告,代求,祝謝。為君王和一切在位的也該如此。使我們可以敬虔端正,平安無事的度日。」(《提摩太前書》21

    First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. I Timothy 2:1


  1. 求聖靈賜智慧,每天的力量給所有教會與基督教團體,在賑災事工上順利進行,幫助有需要的人。更求上帝感動我們,知道如何奉獻,在十一奉獻以外學習慷慨,支持慈惠(憐憫)的事工。

    May the Holy Spirit grant wisdom and strength to all churches and Christian agencies doing earthquake relief work, that this work may move forward and effectively help those in need. May God also move our hearts that we may give generously, over and beyond our tithes, to support ministries of mercy and relief.

    總要勞力,親手作正經事,就可有餘,分給那缺乏的人。」(《以弗所書》428

    “… let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Ephesians 4:28

    「不要為自己積儹財寶在地上。地上有蟲子咬,能銹壞,也有賊挖窟窿來偷。只要積儹財寶在天上,天上沒有蟲子咬,不能銹壞,也沒有賊挖窟窿來偷。因為你的財寶在哪裏,你的心也在哪裏。」(《馬太福音》619-21

    “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

    「就是要你們得富餘,現在可以補他們的不足,使他們的富餘,將來也可以補你們的不足,這就均勻了。如經上所記﹕『多收的也沒有餘,少收的也沒有缺。』」(《哥林多後書》814-15

    “… your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.’” II Corinthians 8:14-15


  1. 求上帝賜恩典,叫我們不失去信心,不離棄祂,繼續敬畏祂,為祂而活。

    May God be gracious to us, that we do not give up faith, that we do not fail to cling to him in faith; that we continue to fear him, and live our lives for his glory.

    「你們來看耶和華的作為,看祂使地怎樣荒涼。你們要休息,要知道我是耶和華。我必在外邦眾被尊榮,在遍地上也被尊榮。」(《詩篇》46810

    “Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. … Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:8, 10

    「你豈不曾知道麼?你豈不曾聽見麼?永在的上帝耶和華,創造地極的主,並不疲乏,也不困倦。祂的智慧無法測度。但那等候耶和華的,必從新得力,他們必如鷹展翅上騰,他們奔跑卻不困倦,行走卻不疲乏。」(《以賽亞書》402831

    “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. … But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:28, 31

forGIVE

The definition of Forgive:
1 a
: to give up resentment of or claim to requital for <forgive an insult>
b
: to grant relief from payment of <forgive a debt>

2
: to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) : pardon <forgive one's enemies>
intransitive verb
: to grant forgiveness


The words that compose forgive are "for" and "give." Which makes me think of
John 3:16, FOR God so loved that world that He GAVE His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not die, but have eternal life.

He gave.

There are multiple levels of giving here. For the sake of the Father's love for the world, he gave His son. For the sake of the Son's love for the father and the world, He gave himself. For the sake of His love the Father gave/gives His Spirit. For the sake of the Spirit's love for the Father and the Son, the Spirit gives Himself to live in us. (Dwelling on all this giving is such a joyful thing. I highly recommend it.)

You can see the gift of the Spirit tangibly in this CNN article about healing in Rwanda "Woman opens heart to man who slaughtered her family." The changes in this woman's heart are amazing. (And just a shadow of the barrier God crossed when he forgave us for our sins, for murdering his Son, for waging war against Him.) PRAISE God for brothers and sisters who are GIVING themselves in forgiveness. Amen for God's work of making a way where there could be no way.

Ornithorhynchus anatinus and other ponderings

This article made me smile, as it pointed to:
1) The awesomeness of our earth, and the uniqueness of its creatures! Which brings me to God's glory in creation: His sense of humor and his creativity. How awe-inspiring.

2) God's ways being "above ours," and not logical in a human way. They are far from efficient. They are non-nonsensical. They include a duck-billed, web-footed, mammal? They include God sending His Enternal Son to pay for our sin and make peace between us and God?

3) The human tendency to trust in ourselves and to depend on our own wisdom. The platypus-- this crazy furry webbed creature-- is called an accident. All of life, from cells to apes to humans, is a genetic experiment (Meaning, as I understand, the engines of natural selection and evolution unfolding until this exact moment in time, when I sit at the computer and ponder metaphysical reality.) Hmmm... It doesn't add up to me. Where does love and dignity and hope come from? And why do we even care about mapping the genetic makeup of the platypus, anyway? What makes us care? What makes us study and research and wonder?

There is a reason, a profound desire within each of us, to know and be known... A desire only fulfilled in the One who made us this way.

Scientists map the genetic makeup of the platypus


SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Scientists said they have mapped the genetic makeup of the platypus — one of nature's strangest animals with a bill like a duck's, a mammal's fur and snake-like venom.

The researchers, whose analysis of the platypus genome was published Thursday in the journal Nature, said it could help explain how mammals, including humans, evolved from reptiles millions of years ago.

The platypus is classed as a mammal because it has fur and feeds its young with milk. It flaps a beaver-like tail. But it also has bird and reptile features — a duck-like bill and webbed feet, and lives mostly underwater. Males have venom-filled spurs on their heels.

"At first glance, the platypus appears as if it was the result of an evolutionary accident," said Francis S. Collins, director of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, which funded the study.

"But as weird as this animal looks, its genome sequence is priceless for understanding how mammalian biological processes evolved," Collins said in a statement.

The research showed the animal's multifaceted features are reflected in its DNA with a mix of genes that crosses different classifications of animals, said Jenny Graves, an Australian National University genomics expert who co-wrote the paper.

"What we found was the genome, just like the animal, is an amazing amalgam of reptilian and mammal characteristics with quite a few unique platypus characteristics as well," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Scientists believe all mammals evolved from reptiles, and the animals that became platypuses and those that became humans shared an evolutionary path until about 165 million years ago when the platypus branched off. Unlike other evolving mammals, the platypus retained characteristics of snakes and lizards, including the pain-causing poison that males can use to ward off mating rivals, Graves said.

More than 100 scientists from the United States, Australia, Japan and other nations took part in the research, using DNA collected from a female platypus named Glennie.

Their work adds to the growing list of animals whose genetic makeup has been unraveled.

By comparing platypus genes to those of humans and other mammals, scientists hope to fill in gaps in knowledge about mammals' evolution and better identify certain species' specific traits.

Des Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at the University of New South Wales who did not take part in the research, said it represented a big step forward in the world's knowledge of mammals.

"Platypuses are often thought of as primitive because they lay eggs," Cooper said. "This paper demonstrates there is a mixture of characters, which they share with other mammals, and of highly specialized attributes."

Graves said the research contained some surprises, such as the conclusion that genes which determine sex in a platypus are similar to those of a bird, not a mammal. Researchers also found genes that indicate platypuses — which rely on electrosensory receptors in their bills to navigate as they rummage with closed eyes in waterways — may also be able to smell underwater.

Unique to Australia, the platypus has confounded observers for centuries. Aboriginal legend explained it as the offspring of a duck and an amorous water rat. When the British Museum received its first specimen in 1798, zoologist George Shaw was so dubious he tried to cut the pelt with scissors to make sure the bill had not been stitched on by a taxidermist.

Platypuses live in the wild along most of Australia's east coast. Their numbers are not accurately known because they are notoriously shy. Hunted for years for their pelts, they have been protected since the early 1900s and are not considered to be endangered, though scientists say their habitat is vulnerable to human development.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Part 1: Whatever does not come from faith..

Is sin.

So says the verse. What does Paul mean? I'm going to try and unfold this through a few blog entries. Just to clarify this wrestling in my head, this attempt at understanding works and faith.

Daily, I see and hear about good works of unbelievers. What are the spiritual implications? Namely, if I believe that good works do not save a human being from God's wrath, how do I live like that? Do I affirm the good work of relieving suffering, or teaching English, building hospitals and schools, or being loving and kind? Or should they be condemned because they are not coming from faith?

I think some of my confusion comes from the fact that I often function under the illusion that my good works/prayers/service/enthusiasm, etc., somehow save me! Ouch. That is a painful confession. While my mind knows they don't, my thoughts and actions don't reflect this! Daily I need to clarify the gospel: Christ's work on the cross that pays for my sin, and transfers his goodness into me. I am justified by Christ, and declared righteous through Christ. Whoooh. Relief. There are no burdens at the Cross.

If my life rests in the gospel COMPLETELY, I will not be living under the illusion of salvation through works. I will live in the freedom and clarity of salvation by grace along through faith alone in Christ. And from this foundation, love will pour out in good works. Jesus said "that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." God's glory is the point. Not my salvation. Not my status.

It seems like that purpose is twofold: good works that do help people (they are not just a facade) and ultimately, God's glory. I wonder if in the seeing of good works, might these people be experiencing, too? Maybe they are benefiting from your good works. Maybe you are serving them. Or maybe they are just seeing from a distance that God's love makes you do crazy things. Like touch lepers in love and service. Like sell your house and give all your earnings away. Like moving across the globe to share His story. Why would anybody do that? There must be something to this God.

And there is. There definitely is something to Jesus Christ. Gripping his gospel is my first step in understanding how 'whatever does not come from faith is sin.' More to come...

Thursday, May 08, 2008

What are we losing?

China is news.
There seem to be complex cultural, economic and social issues unfolding right now. So I've been reading.
One article I found discussed the Uighurs, a Muslim people group in western China.
I was interested to read about their experiences-- complex, of course, but many resonating with marginalization-- one Uighur compared himself to an American Indian of the United States. Wow. It's kind of upsetting. It's complicated. It isn't new-- this type of struggle has been going on forever. Didn't God set Israel apart, so they wouldn't be shaped by the foreigners of their land? God valued their distinction. In fact, cultural distinction glorifies God. I imagine many colored threads being woven together in a carpet. Each thread (culture) contributes something significant with its strengths and weaknesses. So I think it's sad that a culture is being diminished or lost, knowing full well that my nation has and is guilty of this.

I must cling to the promise that a remnant of EVERY tongue and nation and tribe will be a part of the choir of praise... he has guaranteed that none will be lost forever.

Uighurs struggle in world reshaped by Chinese influx

By Peter Ford Mon Apr 28, 4:00 AM ET

Kucha, China - King Daoud Mehsut of Kucha, 12th in his royal line and the last man still alive in China to have sat on a monarch's throne, is a man of noble bearing and proud visage.

The old man's fate, however, is dispiriting. Once a leader of his Uighur people – the Muslim ethnic group that predominates in this far western province of Xinjiang – King Daoud is now wheeled out by two young Chinese female assistants presenting him as a tourist attraction to visitors prepared to buy a 200 RMB ($28.60) ticket. "I get a cut," he says simply.

King Daoud's humiliation, say some Uighurs (prounced WEE-gur), is a sign of what is in store for their culture as a whole in the face of the Chinese government's relentless drive to settle more and more ethnic Han Chinese in traditionally Uighur territory, rich in oil and minerals.

"We feel like foreigners in our own land," complains one Uighur teacher in the provincial capital of Urumqi, who offers only a nickname, Batur, for fear of angering the authorities. "We are like the Indians in America." Or Tibetans in Tibet. "Most Uighurs sympathize with the Tibetans," says Batur. "We feel we are all under the same sort of rule."

Though Xinjiang's 8 million Uighurs have shown only a few signs of the sort of unrest that shook Tibet recently, the Chinese government is just as nervous about "splittism" here among the country's fifth-largest ethnic minority, afraid that beneath the surface calm, resentment is bubbling.

The authorities claim to have foiled three Uighur terrorist plots in recent months – one aimed at bringing down a passenger plane and the other two at this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing – though they have given scant details to support the reports.

That concern, many Uighurs charge, translates into harsh government control of their lives, restrictions on the use of their language in schools and on their Muslim religious practice, and a colonial-style economy that keeps most local people in menial jobs while Han Chinese immigrants run businesses and the local administration.

Since the Communist government took over Xinjiang in 1949 from a warlord allied with the Nationalist Army, the proportion of Han Chinese (China's dominant ethnic group) in the province has shot up from 6.7 percent to 40.6 percent, according to official figures. The Han population now almost matches the Uighur population, after a six decades-long campaign by Beijing to settle Han in the remote region.

"The government wants the Uighurs to be their slaves, they want our race to vanish," says a clothes trader in the bazaar in Urumqi who calls himself Qutub. "They are destroying the demographic balance by bringing in Chinese people," he adds. "They are drying out our roots."

Though Han and Uighur people share the land, they have little in common, little to do with each other, and little desire to change that state of affairs.

Uighurs are resentful at the way Han Chinese monopolize the best jobs and the top political posts, even though Xinjiang is theoretically an autonomous province. Han residents routinely complain that Uighurs are dirty, lazy, and dishonest.

"I don't have any Uighur friends. I don't deal with them," says Mr. Mi, an old man waiting in line for a therapeutic massage in Urumqi who says he has lived in Xinjiang for 50 years. "They are rude and brutal."

That attitude has marked even Hadji, a wealthy young Uighur entrepreneur who drives a pearl gray Chevrolet and says that he personally has always got on well with his Han neighbors in Urumqi.

"They look down on us," he says of the Han immigrants. "When I take a bus, I hang on to the straps with both hands so nobody even thinks I might be trying to steal their bag."

Often, Chinese people seem insensitive to Uighur fears that their distinctive Muslim culture, derived from their Turkic origins, is being stifled by the flood of Han immigration.

"We all belong to the same country, so the two cultures should assimilate," says one Chinese student as he eats a plate of stir-fried pork and vegetables in the Xinjiang University canteen in Urumqi. "There is a universal law: survival of the fittest."

Others are more sympathetic. "We can understand that they feel their culture is being diluted" says Zhu Lijuan, another student. "But without Han people, how would they have cellphones or computers?"

The Chinese government has indeed brought economic development to Xinjiang, acknowledges Qutub, picking at a rice pilaf studded with raisins and pieces of lamb in a bazaar restaurant. But he is not impressed. "They give us bread," he says. "But they take away our hearts."

"The Uighurs are in a very difficult position," says Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher with Human Rights Watch. "They can modernize but at the expense of their culture, or they can refuse to do so and end up marginalized economically."

Of special concern to many Uighurs is their Muslim religion, which local people say is attracting increasing numbers as an expression of their identity, and which the authorities see as a potential breeding ground for separatism.

On the wall of the 16th-century ochre brick mosque here in Kucha, a predominantly Uighur town of 200,000, a red banner proclaims – in Chinese and Uighur script: "Fight Against Illegal Religious Activity: Create a Harmonious Society."

Inside the prayer hall, a notice board explains "illegal religious activity." Near the top of the list is a warning that indicates the government's worries: "It is forbidden to praise jihad, pan-Turkism, or pan-Islamism."

Young men under the age of 18 are not allowed to pray in the mosque, the guardian says. Recently introduced regulations forbid local government employees from going to the mosque and ban teachers from wearing beards and students from bringing the Koran to university, human rights activists say.

"If you get too religious, the government gets worried," says one cotton farmer in a village 50 miles south of Kucha, where, he says, 50 young men have been arrested in recent months for studying at private religious schools, accused of belonging to the outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Party.

"There is no religious freedom here," the farmer says bluntly.

The Chinese government "conflates … any religious activities outside the official framework with terrorism and separatism," argues Mr. Bequelin, leading ordinary Uighur believers to fear they could be charged with aiding the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an armed separatist organization on the US government list of terrorist groups.

ETIM, a shadowy group that advocates an independent Islamic state for Uighurs, is seen by the Chinese authorities as the principal security danger in the region. Accused of a failed bomb plot on a Chinese airliner last month, the organization "is the preeminent threat to the Beijing Olympics," says Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.

That threat, however, says Mr. Gunaratna, comes not from "ETIM's support network in Xinjiang, but from an operational network" based abroad, along the Pakistan-Afghan border, comprising about 40 men who have linked up with Al Qaeda allies there.

Of more concern to the cotton farmer, who asked that neither his name nor his village be identified for fear of official retribution for talking to a foreign journalist, is the fact that the government has ordered him, like everyone else in the district, to tear down his home and build a new one more resistant to earthquakes.

The authorities are offering 4,000 RMB ($571) towards the cost of this work, the farmer says, "but rebuilding the house I live in would cost me 30,000 RMB." Instead he plans to build a smaller home, which will still cost him the price of a year's cotton harvest. "What can we do?" he asks. "That's just the way it is."

Some Uighurs have broken the silence of acquiescence recently, such as the several thousand demonstrators in the southern town of Khotan who spilled onto the streets in protest a month ago at the death, at age 38, of an imprisoned local philanthropist. The official reason was a heart attack.

But fear of being branded a separatist hangs heavily over most Uighurs. Asked if he is happy with the way the government treats him, one man says that answering that question would make him choose between "committing a political sin or a sin against my conscience." He chooses the latter, and is silent.

A local government employee in the small city of Korla, where the discovery of oil has drawn hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese workers, is a little more forthcoming.

Since last term, he complains, key school subjects such as math have been taught only in Mandarin, starting in the second grade. To preserve his people's culture, he insists, "education is central. If education is in Mandarin, what do you think will happen?"

Meanwhile, back in his government-refurbished palace that has been transformed into a "Triple- A Tourist Spot," according to a plaque by the gate, King Daoud seems resigned to his role as a folkloric money spinner for Xinjiang's real rulers, with whom he long ago made his peace.

His "kingdom has disappeared" since the Communists deposed him in 1949, he acknowledges. "I am the last vestige of the feudal system."

Soon, fears Batur, his people will go the same way if the Chinese government maintains its current policies.

"The government thinks Uighurs are a threat to Xinjiang's stability," he says. "If they can assimilate us as soon as possible, there will be no threat. Xinjiang will be Chinese, and there will be nothing for them to worry about."

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Annealing

I love the word of the day.
It's like a little gift in my email. I feel smart when I already know it, and eager to figure out pronunciation and usage when I don't. A new word for me was "anneal." *1 : to make (as steel or glass) less brittle by heating and then cooling 2 : strengthen, toughen

One of the biggest threads God has been weaving in my life is having faith. My faith is being annealed: strengthened, toughened, less brittle, through trials. As James says,
"2
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
"May I remember this in the midst of the trial of job hunting and future uncertainties... His purposes are always good, always annealing.