Friday 8 February 2019

Celebrating Small Victories...

One of the challenges I have in keeping up with this blog is finding topics to write about. I have been here long enough that what was once novel, new and exciting is no longer so. At times I feel like those reading these also feel the same way. I know that numbers aren't everything but there has been a dramatic fall in the number of people reading these things. In one sense though, that doesn't really matter, I'm grateful for every single person who reads these and is praying for me and the work that I'm doing here is Slovenia. As long as one person reads this, I will keep on posting!

The problem is that in some weeks nothing new and shiny and exciting happens. That is the issue I was facing today when I started thinking about what to write about. I then realised that sometimes it's not the big things that bring the greatest joys, it's the little victories, the seemingly small prayers that are answered.

It's hard to explain to those who are living within their home cultures and in their home languages but sometimes small tasks feel like huge mountains. This week I faced one, I finally gathered up the courage to go to... wait for it... the opticians! In England it's so easy, I've worn glasses since I was about 17 or 18 and contact lenses since I was about 21. I know the system, I know exactly where to go and what to do. I even waited until Christmas to get my eyes checked again whilst I was in England (that was also partly because the opticians wouldn't stop sending me letters about it!). When I first came to Slovenia I brought a years supply of lenses with me but I obviously couldn't bring all the solution I needed and I knew that I needed to start thinking about getting more lenses. I was very grateful that some friends had told me a bit about what I needed to do here to get what I need and so I managed to finally go to the opticians, speak to them (in English!) and order what I needed. Ok so that may all seem very mundane and easy but for me it marked another small victory in able to live in another country.

These little things keep me humble and remind me that it's not always easy to live in a different country, no matter how much I might love it here. The other small thing that happened this week was just a reminder that God answers prayers that we may not even have realised that we'd asked for. I don't really want to go into the specifics but earlier this week I had an idle thought along the lines of "wouldn't it be great if... happened, I wonder how it could happen." I didn't even really think much more about it until later in the week someone asked me if I could do exactly what I'd been thinking about! Now it's early days and "it" hasn't happened yet but now I've been asked and so I'm praying that it will. It was just a good reminder that it's God who is in control and works out his purposes.

Now this post may not have been exciting and talking about the thousands who have turned to Christ for their salvation (although of course this is something we're praying for) but it reflects real life and real life in Slovenia. The work here is slow and long term, we mustn't get discouraged but instead thank and praise God for the small victories when they happen.

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