Remembrance Beads

Remembering

When I started school 2 years ago, I was studying the life of Paul with my college women. One of the weeks focused on what it was like to grow up in a Hebrew home, specifically that of an orthodox Jew to better understand Paul (who at that time was Saul).

The Shema was the portion of the Torah (known to us as Deuteronomy 6:4-9) “Hear,O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

The Mesusah was the container for the Shema. Many believe the doorpost was the location for the Shema to be put literally and figuratively as it was hard to miss . It would cause the Jewish people to be reminded of God and all He had done for His people every time they went in and out of their home at a minimum.

Knowing school was going to be more challenging than I could imagine, I decided I would need my own version of a Mesusah to remind me of God’s faithfulness and provision throughout school. I decided to create a bracelet that would have a bead for each class. Every bead would remind me of God’s faithfulness as the bracelet became fuller and fuller!

My first bead was the Bible to celebrate being accepted into school. My first class bead was the pink ribbon as the woman we were caring for passed away my last week of school. I wanted to honor her and be reminded of the supernatural strength God gave me to manage her care, school and work.

Thursday night after I hit the upload button on my last paper for school, I added the last two beads. Overwhelming to look at the bracelet as all the stories and events that occurred the last two years come rushing back. So easy to forget all the tears, struggles and doubt that God overcame on my behalf. My Mesusah bracelet is a testimony of God’s provision.



Rwanda
3 weeks from now I will be halfway through my mission trip to Rwanda. I am just shy of my fundraising goal. I am in need of $230 to hit my goal of $3800. If you are interested in supporting my trip, you can click on the link on the left side of my blog.

We just found out the airlines can’t fly us on November 10th to Rwanda as issues with the flight so we are delayed until November 11th. The silver lining is for those of us who are not on campus we now have a day to bond before we fly. God’s way is best and it appears He is preparing us to deal with what lies ahead by giving us a day to bond as a team.

We have been asked to read the book The Bishop of Rwanda, by John Rucyahana http://books.google.com/books/about/The_bishop_of_Rwanda.html?id=h9ABo3Uzd7kC as we will be working with him on our trip so excited to understand how he has begun to bring reconciliation to his country.