Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

It was an ordinary night here tonight—chili for dinner, listing our best part of the day at the dinner table, dishes and singing while the rest of the family did their thing after dinner. After I finished the dishes, I turned off the lights, gazed at the city’s skyline, and listened to my favorite tunes. Tonight, it was “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” It occurred to me as I sang along and worshiped that the verses of that song make an appropriate theme song for our experience here. So if you’ll forgive me for once again talking about songs I love and why they’re meaningful to me, here’s why I am so in love with this song right now.

• Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation./ Oh my soul praise Him for He is thy health and salvation./ All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near./ Join me in glad adoration.

My life here, more than anything else I have ever experienced, has taught me that Christ is my health and salvation. Yes, He saved my soul by dying on the cross for me, but He also saved me from what my life might have been without Him. My life here isn’t easy, and nothing that happens is a snap. It’s always hard. But He is with me. He helps me. He saves me from myself many days. (He saves my family from myself many days!) I cannot help but be in “glad adoration” of a God who is so constantly at work around me in a thousand different ways. On this blog, I hope that I inspire you to join me in that glad adoration.

• Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wonderfully reigneth/ Shelters thee under His wings, yes, so gently sustaineth/ Hast thou not seen how all thy longings have been/Granted in what He ordaineth?

When I first arrived here, one of the things that was hard for me was that I felt like I had worked so hard to get here, only to find that the hard part was only beginning. But what I’ve come to understand is that the longings of my heart to be here, to serve Him as an international missionary, were all in His plan from the beginning. He knew everything that would happen here—nothing has surprised Him. And in every single thing, He is giving me the greatest desire of my heart, which is to be totally and completely His. Sometimes that’s a painful process, but I’m coming, little by little, to appreciate and take joy in the ways in which He is making me a new person completely. All of the old stuff that troubled me for much of my adult life is gone—stripped away because it couldn’t be a part of my life here if we were to last on the field. When He says He is faithful to complete the good work He has started, I know He is telling the truth, because every day I see Him working toward completing that good work. I know it won’t ever be done—I won’t ever be at the point where He says He’s done with me—but I like the me He is turning me into a whole lot better than the old me. He "wonderfully reigneth" over every single thing in my life—and I daily reap the benefits of that reign.

• Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee/Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee/ Ponder anew what the Almighty can do/If with His love He befriend thee.

I can easily see the ways He is prospering our work. Our work right now consists entirely of learning the language and learning how to live this life that is so different from the life we left behind in the states. If you could hear us speak Russian, I think you would be shocked at what we can do with only six weeks of training. Now, we have a long way to go, and I often have to stop and really think my way through the grammar of what I am saying, because it is totally and completely different from English, but we can go out on the street and communicate with people pretty well. That is clearly the result of the prayers of the faithful who are lifting us up, because language study is a nightmare for all international missionaries. Imagine being pretty smart, accomplished folks and suddenly finding yourself with the communication skills of a two-year-old. And yet, we have not only done well in language study, we’ve enjoyed it. Every single day we are here, we are away of his goodness and mercy daily attending us. Every single day. I have come to an understanding of the kind of prayer that is constant. I felt sick to my stomach on the way to the metro yesterday, knowing I was facing at least another 2 miles of walking and three metro stops before I could get to a bathroom. I prayed about it. I felt better. I think I’ve lived a lot of my life where I felt like God was too busy or too big for the little details of my life. But as I grow closer and closer to Him, I know that He wants to be a part of everything I do. I pray over the kids schoolwork daily, that it will go well, that they will understand it, that I will teach it well. And every day I fall more in love with being my children’s teacher. Can you see, beloved friends, how he is daily attending me here? It is good to be befriended by the love of the Creator of the Universe.


• Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him/ All that has life and breath, come now with praises before Him/ Let the Amen! sound from His people again/ Gladly forever adore Him!

When I listened to this verse last night, there was simply nothing to do but raise my hands to the God of Everything. He is amazing. Two months ago, I could not see a way we could survive here. There wasn’t a single thing keeping us here except for this: God called. We knew Him to be faithful. We decided (and I mean we consciously decided as a family) that we were going to trust Him. Ask my parents and sisters—every time they talked to me, I sounded worse and worse. Frankly, I was headed into a depression that could have swept us right off the field. But face down on my apartment floor I cried out to Him with the groans of pain and suffering too strong for mere words. And you know what happened? He showed up. He was here all the time, just waiting for me to realize that He is absolutely all I need ever. I don’t need to be strong—I need to be full of Him. I don’t need to be wise—I need to be open to the voice of His wisdom. I don’t need to be wealthy—He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He’ll sell one off if we need him to. (That's an Alan Floyd-ism. I want to give credit where credit is due.) He is Everything I need. Everything. How can I not shout “Amen!” to that? Every day, I settle a little more into this new life that He’s given me. It turns out that I, who have worked outside my home my whole adult life, love being a housewife. I love teaching my children. I love taking care of my family, of making things possible for them. Who knew? God knew. He knew what would happen here. He knew the good, the bad, and the ugly…and He called us to this life knowing all of that. Don’t get me wrong—there are days that are so hard still, and I am so homesick that I just want to hit my head on the table and cry. But in everything around me, I am able to see Him, to see His hand at work. What a privilege. What an honor to serve the King of Kings.

I love you all. How wonderful it is to know that I have friends all over the world who read this blog and lift us up in prayer. He is faithful to listen and to move His mighty hand. Look around you, at the blessings of the life where you are, and know that just as He is at work here, He is at work there. Raise your hands with me, as we declare together Amen! Amen! Amen!

Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye