Surprised Surprise?

There's no doubt that our God is a faithful God. I constantly think back as well as presently on all the times He has provided for me and lavished me with His love. He continues to show me how He pours out love into the areas of my life I call insignificant--giving them worth and value.

He values all of us, which is why in His death, we were made new creations. We were wholly made new because he wants wholeness for us.

I need to be careful because I can go easily on a tangent with this post, which wouldn't come as a surprise, but I want to get to the point. The theme of this is more so framed with a question than it is anything else. How is it that I'm constantly surprised that God is the way(s) He is? When I see His goodness, I'm almost taken aback. The truth is, He is that good, that loving, that gentle, that kind, that joyful, that just, etc... On one hand, I feel as though I shouldn't be surprised because I should "know" how ridiculously amazing He is. And on the other, I'm glad I'm surprised because it keeps me in a posture of awe and thankfulness. I know full well that I cannot fathom the greatness of God; I guess that explains my surprise :). Ah, the joys of circular reasoning; it just cracks me up. I get it, but I totally don't--contentment found as this sentiment hangs in the balance.

An aside to those last few thoughts: I'm amazed that I find myself not trusting when I'm constantly blown away by His faithfulness. I think, "Really, Liz? Seriously?!" And to think, He loves me despite me being the occasional idiot, and loves me into a deeper trust :).

I was listening to a song this morning, and this line caused my ears to perk as I was in the midst of being boggled by God's favor and His love: "There's no language for what we've seen." It's true. My words pale in comparison, and I feel like I'm a two-year-old whose senses are so stirred but I'm at a complete loss for expressing myself because I don't have the words; the ones I do have are far from sufficient.

I just got an image as I was writing this that settles the circular reasoning a bit. You know that feeling you get when you're about to successfully surprise someone? It's almost a sense of bottled up joy and sheer delight as you know the person is going to be totally wowed. Part of me thinks that's how our Father feels when we're in sheer delight of who He is and what He does for us. He likes that we respond with such awe and excitement. He likes to surprise us; it makes His heart happy.

I've found myself taking a lot of deep breaths and exhaling with equally deep sighs lately. They allow me to stop long enough to somewhat process what God's up to in my life as well as the life of others. Wow. That's all I've got.

Let me end on a positively amazing note :). So, this is the first time I'm really updating on the progress of my Uganda trip fund raising. I was a bit concerned because I've never had to raise $4,000 for a mission trip. They've always been significantly less for short term trips. Anyway, at a training meeting on Sunday, I was informed that I'm already at 104% of what's needed (it's only been about a month in a half since I sent out my letters) !!! It gets even crazier; I know more is coming in, and this is going to be a huge blessing for the rest of the team as well as for our friends in Gulu. See? I shouldn't be surprised, but that's all my heart knows to feel. I am humbled and in nothing but awe of Jehova Jireh-- our Provider!!!!

If you haven't seen it yet and would like to be in the know about my trip and different ways you can be praying, please go here: http://alittlebet.blogspot.com/2009/09/uganda-bound.html