I don't want to smell like fish

Every word of God is tested; he is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. Proverbs 30:5-6

You need a little background on why the title is funny. First of all, Marc and I did the Jonah routine for many, many years. Just replace Nineveh with Eastern Europe, and you've pretty much got the idea. One night at dinner, we were talking about knowing God was calling us to missions, and Marc said, "You know, Kel--after all these years in the belly of the whale, I'm cold and I smell like fish." It wasn't a funny conversation, but it was a funny comment, one we picked up and used from then on.

The second reason it's funny is because our neighbor, God bless her, cooks fish every single day (in all fairness, most Russians eat fish every single day). The problem is that her kitchen backs up to our bathroom, so by about five in the afternoon, our bathroom reeks of fish. She is also, evidently, a heavy smoker (as are most Russians), so you can imagine what a delight our bathroom is by around 7. Marc will come out and say, "Fish and cigarettes for dinner again, just in case you were wondering."

Now I'm studying Jonah in a Kay Arthur study, so here I am with the fish theme again. Anyway, he just got swallowed by the great fish, and he's hanging out in the belly right now. (If you know Kay Arthur, you know I've been on chapter one for about six days.) Here's what occurred to me this morning as I was doing a key word study of "storm" in chapter one. We often blame storms in our life on the enemy. Satan must really be angry with us to be causing all these problems--that kind of thing. I'm convinced that more often than not, the storms aren't coming from the enemy, but from a loving Father who is trying to get our attention. I think we give Satan a lot more credit than he's due. As one who has been in the belly of the great fish and lived to tell about it, I must say that I am all for giving God my attention before He feels the need to make the waters choppy. Know what I mean?

Well, I need to run. It's time to make breakfast, and then it's off for some sledding with the kids and Christmas shopping this afternoon with Sarah Beth. (Today is my day off language study.) We are way behind on Christmas shopping, and we are desperately trying to get everything done. Please continue to pray for us, that we can embrace Christmas in our new home without being overly homesick, something we are definitely struggling with right now. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye