So much for thinking I would keep up with my life in Tokyo. :) I don't even know where to begin to explain the situations we find ourselves in or to express how these have been some of the hardest moments of our lives yet, together and apart. Nothing unforeseeably horrible has happened. Just a series of things that continue to have us running back to Jesus to find truth to stand firm on. We have been called here, to these jobs, for such a time as this.

My pastor was talking about something (I can't recall what the subject actually was) and he illustrated his point by saying that if we were to rub a soft brush over our skin it wouldn't harm it in the least. But if we were to continue this action for hours and hours, eventually the skin would grow irritated and raw. I feel that that analogy sums up where we are currently. We've not been hit hard or thrust into an abyss too dark to see our way out of, we've simply been brushed up against repeatedly for months.

 We are weary. We are learning new ways to depend on the Lord and to joyfully drink from the cup he has set before us. We struggle a lot in this endeavour. At our wedding ceremony we took communion together. Sonny felt it was important to drink everything in the cup as a symbol of accepting God's call on our lives. Someone had filled the rather deep goblet very full and I remember watching him trying to drain the thing and it simply wouldn't run dry. Though we laugh about it now, I've thought about how profound that picture was. We are in the midst of something that simply won't run dry. Pushing and prodding and shoving that won't stop. Little stabs over and over every time we've gone through a new time of seeking God about a situation. We've cried out, "will this ever end, Lord?" too many times to count.

 I am grateful that His cup of grace will never ever run dry. We drink from each morning and wait to see what will come. Each evening at the end of his shift when Sonny calls me with bad, worse or horrible news, we are driven again to drink from that cup of grace that is sufficient for each moment.

Would you pray with us? We are considering new jobs for the spring. I am especially interested in returning to the dance industry in a much larger capacity than I am now (teaching a few times a month). We need wisdom. Lots of it. Sonny will be making decisions about how to proceed in his work in the next few months. We want to persevere where we should and move on out when it is time.