Beauty

                                               

Sometimes it's tempting not to mention the good things about being overseas. There's a feeling (quite rightly) that supporters who give sacrificially to keep the worker in the field will start to wonder what's happening if updates are filled with the lovely weather, trips out and amazing experiences instead of the struggles and challenges every overseas worker faces.

Of course there are a lot of challenges involved in leaving your family, friends and home culture to serve overseas and many people are working in dangerous and undeveloped areas of the world.  It's also very true that when you rely on God you experience him work in a way that is perhaps more striking than when you're comfortable and confident enough to rely on yourself.  He does do amazing things to change lives and situations.

However, he also does not want us to live miserably (that's Satan's desire). Jesus came so we "may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Part of that is being able to honour God by appreciating and sharing the wonders he's provided.

The part of the world where he's put us at the moment is amazing. It costs nothing to appreciate the marvels of creation. Let me share a few with you.

                                                 

 

                                                  

 

Spiders are God's creation too, even if the discovery of this "rain spider" on the fridge this morning was quite a surprise. They come inside when it rains, as it did this morning, and are huge. There were some pretty large spiders in Nigeria but they were strange and flat and didn't look threatening (excepting the scorpion spider which also appeared before the rains). This one was a properly scary spider and made scary movie tappings in the plastic tub Fraser used to put it outside.