I am sitting here after a long day of teaching....yes, I still teach music lessons one day a week to eager young piano, vocal, and violin students. My feet are propped up and there's a blanket over my legs. I'm so comfortable right now that I'm not sure I want to move to my bedroom to go to sleep! I will enjoy my little rest to the fullest because tomorrow begins another journey the green island of my dreams and destiny. How many times have I been to Ireland? I have lost count. But my heart still skips a beat when the plane floats down onto the runway in Dublin.
I remember the years when I would get out maps of Ireland and simply drink it all in, trying to imagine what all those funny-named cities actually looked like. Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Killarney. How would I ever get to these places I had dreamed of as a child? I used to try to plan my way as if I could make it happen. Then one day, it did happen all on its own. At the right time, the Lord told an Irish friend of mine that He was bringing in a woman 'from the outside'. We spoke on the phone once, and she believed I was the 'one' He was referring to. So, completely by faith, I boarded a plane for Ireland to be greeted by a woman I had never met, to sing and speak in all the places I had dreamed about.
That was many visits ago, and all the strange-named cities have become familiar now. But each trip is a brand new adventure full of encounters with God that are as real as soda bread and potatoes! I love sharing the gospel in this country because the people are so ready, so hungry for spiritual truth. I also just love the culture. I have never met a people that was more hospitable and just plain fun as the Irish!!
So I'll enjoy my rest tonight because tomorrow there will be no rest for awhile....its time to "run the race marked out for me" and enjoy the soda bread and potatoes along the way. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this time and to share the adventure with you when I return. Please pray for me if you feel led - for safety and grace on my travels, for the luggage to arrive, for no jet lag, and for God's power to flow through me mightily as I sing and speak! Slan go foill....
I remember the years when I would get out maps of Ireland and simply drink it all in, trying to imagine what all those funny-named cities actually looked like. Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Killarney. How would I ever get to these places I had dreamed of as a child? I used to try to plan my way as if I could make it happen. Then one day, it did happen all on its own. At the right time, the Lord told an Irish friend of mine that He was bringing in a woman 'from the outside'. We spoke on the phone once, and she believed I was the 'one' He was referring to. So, completely by faith, I boarded a plane for Ireland to be greeted by a woman I had never met, to sing and speak in all the places I had dreamed about.
That was many visits ago, and all the strange-named cities have become familiar now. But each trip is a brand new adventure full of encounters with God that are as real as soda bread and potatoes! I love sharing the gospel in this country because the people are so ready, so hungry for spiritual truth. I also just love the culture. I have never met a people that was more hospitable and just plain fun as the Irish!!
So I'll enjoy my rest tonight because tomorrow there will be no rest for awhile....its time to "run the race marked out for me" and enjoy the soda bread and potatoes along the way. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this time and to share the adventure with you when I return. Please pray for me if you feel led - for safety and grace on my travels, for the luggage to arrive, for no jet lag, and for God's power to flow through me mightily as I sing and speak! Slan go foill....