I have moments in my days where I still can’t believe I am actually here. I like the days where I look around me and see so many new trees, stores, people, flowers, etc. It’s like my eyes are slow to adjust to my surroundings. I am seeing new depths to things I have seen everyday.
I have a fairly clear view of the sunset from my apartment on the top floor of my building. Liz and I like to go up onto the roof (which is safe, there is a very wide ramp to get up there and it is wide up top as well) which gives us a view of the whole sky, not only to the west, but to the east, north and south as well. The other day we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen since being here. It was like I stepped into a painting. The clouds were perfectly still. They were puffy and thin each taking on a color of their own. The full moon was behind us already up in the purple blue sky. Shining around it were rays of pink sun clouds. It was truly spectacular.
Another day I was out running in the late afternoon as the shadows were getting longer. I was running on a red dirt road next to a soccer field with a team of Cameroonians playing and cheering. I passed two women whom I smiled and greeted, they did the same in return. I was taking in the sounds around me when I looked up and realized what an incredible blue the sky was against the small white clouds and the green palm trees. Then all of a sudden it was like I was removed from my body. It was like I was above the clouds looking down on this white woman running on the red dirt road surrounded by the beauty of African people and trees. I couldn’t believe that was me and that I am really here and truly blessed because of it.
A few nights ago I was awoken at 2 a.m. by a lightening/rain storm. I first closed all the windows, but I was wide awake so I sat there for almost an hour and listened to the rain and watched the lightening. I lit a candle and sat and journaled for a little while. While I was praising God for the power of his storm and the glory it brought to him, another thought came to me. I see God so clearly through creation and it flows from me naturally to praise him in the ways he reveals himself through sunsets, sunrises, blossoming flowers, growing trees, cool breezes, sunshine on a cold day, cloud formations, ocean waves, horses running, I could go on and on. But on this night I realized that as my creator God was making a storm over Cameroon, he was also creating a peaceful breeze on some beach, horses were running in some unknown field, there was a beautiful sunrise somewhere, possibly on the shores of Indonesia, and there was an incredible sunset on the western coast of Alaska. God was displaying his glory all over the world and I was blessed to be a small part of giving him praise for it.
Those are my thoughts for this week. God is forever faithful and constantly revealing himself to us. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
So I pray this week, that you may realize, through creation, how blessed and loved you truly are by the Living God.
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
AMY
This is not the sunset I was refering to, but still it is beautiful.
