Day 2!

This morning I treated myself to coffee and a Skype date with my family! After mapping out our day we decided to get our grocery shopping out of the way and head to Stanley Park of a bike ride. I was so excited that our friend Sophia decided to join!

 The view started out like this... I was extremely excited!

 Sweet Sophia!

 Rebekah, our awesome tour guide :)

 I love this place! (and I jumped down a 6 foot wall to get to that rock... THEN I had to climb back up!)

 It was a perfect day for a bike ride! One of my favorite things to do..

 Sophia trying to keep up. We lost her during the last mile or so. We finally found her!

 The trail gets pretty narrow in some parts..

 Joanna, this is for you.. I knew you would be proud of me!

 Dad, this one is for you!

 The beach! The sand is a dark brown color and the water is not near as salty as the Indian Ocean!

 We finished the day off with Italian pizza. We were SO HUNGRY it was delicious!

 Pray for Sophia, who is a new believer hungry for the Truth. Pray for us as we continue to meet students and build relationships with them!

Day One

Day One in Vancouver! So thankful for the safe flight, and Rebekah was able to find me at the airport. We talked until late since the sun didn't set until 10pm! We started the morning off at the Beanery coffee house just down the road from our apartment. I found my new favorite place!

 Then we headed to campus to meet with Craig, our supervisor to talk about our mission the next two weeks. He also toured us around campus.

 This is the brand new Student Union Building (SUB), which has nice restaurants and GREAT places to study!

 Campus view up the hill...

 This is at the heart of campus. At the beginning of the school year, every spot here is filled with a booth from all the clubs on campus. Talk about overwhelming...

 This has a very interesting story.. This giant whale washed up on shore. They wanted to put the bones in the museum, but it had one problem. It still had skin on it! So they buried it, hoping that the skin would decompose and they could bring the bones in. When they came back 20 years later, the skin had not decomposed! So they cut it off, cured the bones to preserve them,and build this museum to house the skeleton.

 This is the forestry school on campus.., Wood carving anyone?

 After Chinese food for linch, we set out to venture around downtown!

 I could stare at this all day long...

  This is where the FIFA Women's World Cup is played!!! While we were walking downtown, we passed a sports bar and heard people shouting, U-S-A!! U-S-A!!! I felt proud to be an American!

 Then we made our way to Chinatown. Apparently the Rooster is our animal..

 Gorgeous, eh?

 THIS would be the place I would love to play soccer!

 Across the street is the steam whistle clock! We sat here for an hour watching it and sipping a Vanilla Bean Frapp. :)

 I WAS RIGHT... They do sell Maple Syrup!

 

 Chinese food feast for dinner at Hon's. It was SO good and I left STUFFED.

 After walking around town, we headed back to Craigs for homemade ice cream and amazing conversation. :) By the end of the day we were dead on our feet! (we also walked a total of 10 miles!) Sleep came quickly!

The Journey

It all started Monday... (cue horror movie theme music)... You know the overwhelming feeling right before you go on a trip,  to get everything done? No matter how many things you complete on the list,  it never seems productive enough! That was me this week... from working  40 hours this week and taking care of church responsibilities to cooking  dinner, packing, and paperwork, there was no sleep this chick!

Can I be real with you?  I have struggled tremendously this week. I have struggled with expectations at work,  miscommunication (which, btw, causes stress and frustration), selfishness, thinking too highly of myself, and loneliness. It's been a tough week.  I feel like the enemy had invaded my mind,  played around with it, smushed it, and left me to pick up the pieces. More than once this week,  I have locked myself in my room,  crawled under my bed,  hugged my pillow,  and cried out to God.  I try to live my life not out of emotion, but my faith. I KNEW God was doing something amazing in my heart while I was going through this valley. I KNEW I had to CHOOSE to believe He was working on something huge in my life and that there was a purpose for the pain.  When I reflect on the prayer I prayed Monday morning the minute I rolled out of bed,  I knew why.

"Lord thank you for this week. I pray that you would take this day as an offering to you.  I pray Lord, that you will prepare my heart for this trip you're taking me on. Please humble me,  so I can be used by you."

When I heard about Vancouver, I was so excited because I was going to be involved with student ministry, which is something not new to me.  I have done student ministry on the other side of the world before,  so my attitude was like, "I got dis!"

I will tell you,  my friend,  that is the most dangerous spot to be in your relationship with God. 
This week,  God answered my prayer like nothing else.  He humbled me in every way possible,  brought me to my knees, in a place of surrender. By this weekend,  I felt inadequate,  unequipped, unprepared, and vulnerable. The place where I SHOULD  be. This allows me to be empty of myself and full of Him. My job is not to be so busy doing things FOR God, but to be busy doing things WITH God.

I am sooo excited to see what God is going to do in me and through me this week. Because I know it won't be me.

What Do Canadians Say?

Late post! For some reason it didn't post, so let's pretend you read this last week! 

 6 days…. I have SIX DAYS until I find myself on a plane to Vancouver, Canada. (You know, I always thought everyone in Canada wore the color red, ate pancakes with maple syrup, and said “eh” all the time. I have no earthly clue why…)

I have been praying all year for this summer and for what adventure God had in mind for me next. I searched for mission trips and internships overseas for a while, and God kept bringing up Vancouver. I met a missionary who lives in Canada when he came, at my dad’s request, to speak at my church. We had a nice chat at lunch after the service and I briefly shared my experience in missions and student ministry. He mentioned something about a summer internship, so I gave him my info. Summer got closer so I decided to contact him to see if there were any openings for a summer intern. At the time, he didn’t have any planned so I started considering other options in Vancouver. After a few emails and Skype interviews, Craig, my missionary friend, messaged me about coming up for a few weeks to volunteer. The timing was impeccable… I literally was praying about it and my phone went off. And it kept happening that way!

Things started working out better than I could have planned it, so needless to say I am STOKED to see what God is going to do with me in Vancouver. I am just blessed to join him in His work! Pray for me as I assist with outreach for a church plant on the campus of University of British Columbia and build relationships with the campus community. Stay tuned for more “Adventures with Brindley!” 

Delayed Gratification

40 days… 40 days without brownies, without cake, without chocolate chip cookies, and without ice cream. For those of you who know me, you’re probably thinking “HOW DID SHE DO IT?!” By the grace of God, my friends. This might sound like a joke, but God used this experience to teach me a lesson.

When I first made the commitment not to partake of the sugary goodness, I was fully committed! The second I walked away however, I was immediately confronted with the temptation: a gooey chocolate chip cookie.  EVERYDAY since then, I have had to verbally say “No” to a cookie someone offered, or even to just a thought of the wonderful frostiness of ice cream. It was a rough 40 days.

Temptation was everywhere. Cravings, TV commercials, invites from friends to join them for ice cream, I even had dreams about it. It was ridiculous y’all! More than once I had to turn my face and say a prayer that I wouldn’t fall into temptation and I even had my roommates keep me accountable! Right from the start, I knew I had to keep my eyes on the prize.
 

People asked me, “Why are you doing this?” To which I replied, “I love Jesus more than ice cream, cookies, cake, and brownies. So during the time when I think about eating any of those I spend time seeking God’s face and His will.” It forced me to make a conscience decision about what I put in my mouth and in my heart. It also taught me what “delayed gratification” means.

Our American culture is consumed by instant gratification. I want this and I want it NOW. Fast food, instant internet access, even online dating sites which finds you a date instantly! With delayed gratification, you are not instantly gratifying your desires. You have to wait patiently and expectantly as the anxiety builds until you get what you have been craving all along (Like cookie dough ice cream). And I might have just drooled on my keyboard… The entire time I was waiting, I kept telling myself, “It is going to be worth it.” And was it ever!

On Sunday, day 40, my lovely parents took me to my favorite place: Dairy Queen. The smell, the cool air from inside, the pictures of blizzards everywhere, and now I had a choice to make. What do I want? It was overwhelming, because I wanted all of them. I settled on a Peanut Butter cookie dough blizzard. We took our order number and patiently sat down. The anxiety was taking over, I was so excited and I just couldn’t hide it. I may or may not have had a small anxiety attack at the table… I jumped up and stood by the counter waiting for her to call our order. She was wiping of the ice cream that had missed the inside of the cup, and I was so impatient I almost reached for it before she was done. I walked back over to our table, staring at the cup with the angelic white cream and sat down. My family is sitting there watch me as I take my first bite. I also may or may not have shed a tear. My mom looked at me with a grin and asked, “Was it worth the wait?” I smiled back, the biggest smile I could manage, and said “Oh, YES!”

Many times in my life recently, I have been asked the same question, “Is it worth the wait?” Is it worth waiting to start my career so I can go to college? Is it worth waiting for my boyfriend/ husband instead of saying yes to everyone that comes along? Is it worth waiting on God’s timing instead of taking my future in my own hands?

I can firmly say, IT IS WORTH THE WAIT. I also feel like the longer I wait for what God has for me, the better it gets because I am focusing on what God has for me right here, right now.
So what are YOU willing to wait for?

Faith in the Future

Faith is choosing to believe that the Bible is true, regardless of circumstances, emotions, or cultural trends.

My professor would quiz us on this phrase EVERY WEEK last semester. I didn’t understand why it was so important… until I had to explain it. Since that class, God has been using this “one-liner” to grow me in ways I would have never grown on my own. (If you giggled at the word “one-liner”, thank you. Welcome to “A day in the life of Brindley”, where one word can bring a smile to your face. )

At my age, (No comments please…) it seems like EVERYONE is in a relationship, getting engaged or married. Maybe that is just because I live on a college campus… But I can’t help but wonder, “Am I missing something?” Is there something wrong with me if I don’t have guys asking me to go on dates with them? THIS is what culture and the circumstances around me preach.

I will admit I am 21 years old and never dated. Can I say I am happy with that fact? Well, some days I am happier than others, but I have learned so much about life and happiness in my singleness and I wouldn’t change it even if I could. Here are some of the lessons God has been teaching me:

1. If you are not content being single, you will NEVER be content in a relationship. Ask anyone married or that have been dating a while. No matter how bad you want a boyfriend/girlfriend, they will never satisfy you. You will always be disappointed when they can’t meet your needs. We all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts, and no matter how hard we try to fit another person in it, they will never fit. God is the only one that will satisfy you. Period.
2. All of the things that are happening in your life right now have a purpose to grow and strengthen you. They may not be pleasant, but they are essential. For example, I hate conflict, but I also hate confrontation. However, in order to handle conflict, you have to be willing to confront it. My roommate and I had a confrontation/conflict resolution session last week about some disagreements we had. It was not fun at the time, but it was essential to repair our friendship. There is a right way to handle conflict and a wrong way (OBVIOUSLY). This is a lesson I needed to learn and practice for marriage one day and God used me and my roommate as an example. I praise God for that!
3. There are so many benefits and things to do while you are single! Yes, there is a loooong list of things you can do to take advantage of being single. Learn a new sport, make new friends, and travel around the world, (always on my bucket list... So far it’s going well!) During my singleness, I have learned so many new things (like how to play lacrosse and how to bowl like a pro), been so many new places, (6 different countries in Africa so far), and met so many new friends (guys and girls alike). Take advantage of this time of your life, because you will never get to do it again!

I am starting to see how God has used the things around me to prepare me for the rest of my life. My good friend Shelby said to me one day, “You know, in those moments we can’t figure out what or why God is teaching us things, we don’t find out until much later and we say ‘Oh! That is what He was doing there!’”

How does faith fit into all of this? Faith is CHOOSING to believe what the Bible says. Scripture says in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has a plan for us, plans for a future and hope. So living by faith is choosing to believe that God does have a plan for my future and I can put my trust and my hope in Him; regardless of the circumstances around me (where all my friends are getting engaged) regardless of emotions (no matter how I feel), and regardless of what culture tells me (it is not my job to pursue the guy).

This weekend God keeps bringing this subject up in different places in His Word. My favorite is Romans 4:20-21. “No unbelief made him/(her) waver concerning the promise of God (Jeremiah 29:11), but he/(she) grew in his/(her) faith as he/(she)  gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” Abraham thought God was crazy when he said he would be a father of a nation in his old age. But he believed what God told him, and he was considered to have a good relationship with God.

When I choose to live by faith, by choosing to believe everything that God has said to be true, I am considered to have a good relationship with God. Therefore I don’t have to pursue a relationship myself because he already has a plan. He has the pen to write my love story. He will do a much better job than me.

So, live by faith and give God the pen to write your love story!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKcImiTxqKg 

Why Kenya?

Last weekend I was invited by a couple friends to an African party the African Student Union was having. There would be African food, games, and dancing. At the party, a friend of mine asked me, “Why do you love Kenya so much? What is it about Kenya that you like the most?” I replied, “ I love the people, they are so kind and hungry for the Gospel.” Apparently, my answer was not good enough for him so he pressed on for another answer. Honestly, I listed a bunch of other things, but that challenged me to go deeper into his question. “Why do I love Kenya so much?”

Why Kenya?

• ·        I love how inviting and friendly the people are. They are so interested in you, and will always take time out of their day to talk with you. They are very inviting and humbly generous. They will do their best to make you feel welcome in their homes, even if it meant offering you something to eat, which may be their one meal that day. They are so selfless, yet so happy. I wish I could be more like them.
• ·         I love their everyday life. Life is so simple in Kenya. You wake up in the morning, maybe do some laundry and hang them outside to dry, usually the house worker comes in and cleans the floors and dishes, you might sit down in the shade and read a book or watch the world go by, maybe walk down to the corner vender to buy some vegetables for dinner. Start making dinner, which could take a few hours, sit and chat in the shade with a neighbor, and go to bed when it gets dark. So simple.  You may plan to do three things in one day, but usually you only get around to doing one of them, and it’s ok! At least you got something done!
• ·         I love the experience. I mean, doesn’t everyone want to say, “When I lived in Africa…” or “When I went on a safari in Africa…” It is quite an adventure! Thankfully, I have been to multiple game parks, got to feed and kiss a giraffe, pet a lion cub, be chased on foot by a buffalo, feed chickens, eat vegetable from the garden, ride the public bus, be treated like a celebrity walking downtown, watching African kids experience bubbles for the first time, learning new games, going new places, watching the beautiful sunsets… The list goes on and on!

But is it more and than that? Does Kenya represent something in my life? Does it represent my obedience to God’s call? Does it represent a pilgrimage of faith? I believe I love Kenya so much because it symbolizes a huge growth spurt of my faith. God taught me the weight of his call and the cost of following him. It costs us everything. I left everything I knew, everything I was familiar and comfortable with, my family, my independence and I jumped into the unknown, literally. It was exhilarating!

 Like sky diving, you are strapped to a professional , who has seen the world from the air, knows what to do, and where to go. You, on the other hand, have no idea what it is going to be like or where you are going to land. Your job is to trust the professional, and jump.

That was my jump. Where I put all my trust in him and jumped into his will. God knew what he was doing all along. When I was free falling, I had to depend on God for everything. The courage to jump, the ability to trust, the next breath I need, and the open landing spot. My job was to say goodbye to my family, to jump on the plane, to trust God to provide safety, a place to live, and food to eat. That kind of dependence showed me who God is.  

God provided the Israelites the opportunity to leave Egypt and food to eat in the wilderness for 40+ years! They trust God through the good times and bad. Kenya wasn't all sunshine, roses, and ice cream. It was tough living there for 5 months too. There was culture shock, adjusting to different ways of life, people breaking into our compound, taking public transportation, walking 2 miles to the grocery store and having to carry groceries back. There were days I loved Kenya and never wanted to leave, and there were days when I ached to be home with my family, driving my own car and spending time with my friends. There are days when I cried myself to sleep. There were days I didn't know why God would pick me to come here to tell people about him.

However, I wouldn't have traded that experience for the world. God taught me so much about myself, about life and about himself. It changed my life. It changed how I look at people, and my everyday life.

Is God asking you to jump and free fall into his arms? Is he asking YOU to let go, give up control, and trust him to provide? Will you trust him?