Trusting Jesus!

It's amazing how good it feels to have grow in Christ! Please pray for me that I would continue to grow in Him. I know that everyday He is present with me, Jesus is the center of my life... trusting Him in the unknown is the hallmark of Christian faith. Yet still there are days in areas of my life that I must consistently place back in His hands. Days which I begin to do things in my own strength and days when I mull the lie that Jesus is not powerful enought to... (fill in the blank). I know that these days are not from the Lord, but are opportunites to really trust Him and rely on Him more.

I am really still encouraged by the verse in 2nd Timothy 1:12 "I am not ashamed of it (suffering), for I know in whom I trust andI am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted him until the day of his return." God is so totally trustworthy! When I look at the evidence in my life for his trustworthyness I am astonished. He has faithfully saved me a boy who was running from him and wanted nothing to do with him, He has given me so many blessings of friends and a great family, he has responded to so many prayers, he has showered undeserved kindness and love on me everyday, he got me a free knee surgery in Italy when I really needed it, he restored my relationship with my earthly father and he has redeemed me and given me a guiding spirit inside.

Each night we could just sit and talk about His faithfullness that day. Like just the other day He protected me from a pickpocketer whose had was IN my pocket where my wallet was, and recently He got my paperwork through the Consulate and it looks like I will likely get a VISA this summer! Each day He helps me to speak Italian, and to step out to try to care about people first, though I am an engineer kind of guy. Each day He is helping me to learn more of what it means to follow and trust Him with all of my heart... which is so good, but many times the road to this kind of growth passes through the jungles of trials or with the rod of correction! Oh the pain of growth... I remember friends telling me that they like it when they are sore after working out, because they know that they are getting stronger. Sometimes I feel sore after getting worked out by God... but I know He is getting stronger in me, and that He is helping me to love Him with my whole life.

Though it's not easy, nothing else could be be better for my life!

Ben