Reflecting a bit

I have almost been in Arequipa for 1 month! It has been a wonderful month! I have learned so much and met so many awesome people. Through being in a new place, with new people, speaking a different language in a culture that is different from my own... this month as has also felt like one huge lesson on trusting God.

This morning I woke up feeling a bit heavy. I have this desire to really love mi familia  here and be a blessing to them as they have been to me, but I don't even know how to say, "Please pass me the salad dressing" the right way! I felt discouraged.

I just wanted to know what I would do this weekend, who I would be with, and what I would do. I wanted to know if there is a place that I can store my backpack at the Club Internacional (a gym that we have been given memberships to) and how late it is open tonight. I wanted to know the right words to use to ask my classmates if they wanted to hang out. I felt a bit like I was floundering.

And as soon was I wrote the word "floundering" in my journal in English, since I don't know the word in Spanish, God reminded me of someone else who had litterally been floundering:

 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Peter was walking on water! I imagine that he was looking straight at Jesus, his eyes fixed on Him. He took a few steps. But then... he got distracted. He noticed the wind and the waves, and he started thinking about them instead of about Jesus.

The Holy Spirit reminded me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, to not be distracted by plans for the weekend or hanging out with classmates. Jesus is calling me to rest in Him. He knows what I need and He will  provide it. He loves mi familia infinitely more than I ever can and He will teach me to love them with His love.

In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. (From Isaiah 30:15)