"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of Your hands." Psalm 138:8

"...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

So I had to buy a new Bible when I got home in June because mine completely fell apart this last year in Senegal. I hate breaking in a new Bible because in my old one, I know where everything is, what color it is highlighted in, and what side of the page it is on. So tonight I was sitting here looking through my "Uganda Missionary Bible" (a small blue Bible that I carried in Uganda) and ran across this top verse (Psalm 138:8) that I had underlined and I reread it and was just struck by how much it resonated deep within me tonight. Then Philippians 1:6 stuck out in my mind as an answer to the Psalmist saying "Do not abandon the works of Your hands..." And it's like it is confirmed here that Christ is finishing that work in us.

This last year brought a lot of hardships that I must confess I still deal with on some level, though thankfully much of it is past now. But sometimes in the quiet of the night, I have to ask myself and God "Why did all of this happen?" I'm fine with never knowing the full answer, but tonight as I sat and thought about that question, it struck me that Christ really is working on me. I feel like sometimes I'd like Him to just not work on me for a little bit so I can catch my breath, but I really do count myself blessed that He hasn't given up on me. Reminds me of the butler in Batman Begins who keeps telling Bruce Wayne that he will "never" give up on him. I find myself sometimes really wanting to see what is going to happen next in my life...where will I be going to serve? Will there be someone with me or am I going it alone with Jesus? But the great thing is, I don't have to worry about it. I can simply trust that where ever I end up and with whomever, or without, that God is still going to be working on me...that He is not going to abandon me...I am the work of His hands...and as much as I don't feel that way a lot of times...that is Truth. Somtimes His truth hurts to hear and believe when we have been told other things by people we love...yet it is a good hurt...a healing hurt. As a friend prayed for me this last week in class, "help her to see herself the way You see her." I pray that for all of my friends who struggle with this...it seems to be more common than I realized. Let us see ourselves as God's kids who He loves enough to continue working on...we are His masterpiece and He has a purpose for us!