Today is a cold day. Last night was very cold, the coldest yet. The winter weather is very beautiful though, especially the stars at night. They are clear. I got back from Thanksgiving vacation on Monday and the team went directly to site and began building a bathroom tent in the rain. We also put up a new addition to the original commons tent and got cots to sleep on. We will be getting a little heater soon for when it gets even colder.

I had a good rest over vacation. I went away wondering about everything that God has been putting on my plate. I didn’t know what to do with it. He has brought up things that I don’t want to know or see about myself and the things that I’ve been through – things that I felt should be irrelevant in sight of the fact that I am a new and free creation in Him. Some of it has to do with past relationships that I have had and gone wrong in, and some of it had to do with my family history and how it has affected me. I was talking with a friend during break and she pointed out some very insightful things about what I was dealing with. As I listened the Spirit spoke into my open ear. What God has been bringing up has allowed me to see, in the small arena of my life, how Satan is scheming and trying to tear down the plans of God in the world and for all people. What are two things that are very important to God, and are also biblical institutions? Marriage and family (a representation of the Church) and the Church. If Satan can tear me down in my way of forming relationships and distort my concept of family, then he can effectively twist my understanding of who I am as part of the Church. It’s nothing personal. Satan doesn’t care about me as me; he tries to tear down my life because it means he tears down a part of God’s creation and rips someone away from God’s plan for them.  Seeing that, I understand why it is important for me to look at the things that have happened in my life and to me. It gives me a clear picture of what Satan has been trying to cheat away from me, and I know what God wants to give me. I know what to desire and what will glorify my God.