Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Flowers Transform


As Zach and I were sitting on Delphinium knoll where we sat four years ago when Zach sang me the first of many meaningful, homespun love songs, I had this thought:  Flowers are meant to fade.

Over four years ago, we met here at GIAL while partners in the final project of a  Scripture use class.  After five months, we decided to pursue a future ministering together.  Two years after that decision, and a two countries away, we were married. Wow!  Marriage was so much better than we'd imagined! We experienced a rich, flowering love as we returned to Nigeria to begin a new life together.  Flowers of spring are strikingly beautiful, and our marriage is indeed a burst of colorful, creative beauty.  

As summer comes, the flowers turn into fruit, producing seeds that will carry on the life-giving essence.  As our love matures and changes shape, we are looking forward to the new fruit that God will produce through our understanding of himself and of each other.  It may not be as striking as the expectant blooms, splashes of color, and wild petal formations, but still divine and miraculous.  

We are at GIAL again to learn to bear more intentional fruit. The coolest thing about God's garden of people, is that two individuals existing in the body of Christ find themselves part of a life system where fruit of crazy colors, unusual sweetness, and turbo-healthy nutrients good for the whole person abound!  The fruit of a Christian marriage is so spectacular...and we are just getting the first tastes of it as we remember what God did last year in Nigeria, pray for the nations, dream of what God will do with us, and expect our GREAT God to accomplish more than we can ever imagine!  We pray that our time here at GIAL will be an integral part of this new growth in us as we prepare to return to Nigeria in early 2015. 



Grandma and Grandpa Yoder

Getting to know one's Grandparents-in-laws is one of the many joys of being married.  Afterall, Grandma married a Yoder, so I have a lot to learn from her! 

Grandma and Grandpa Yoder visited us in Dallas over our long weekend between sessions!  It was so lovely to fellowship with them! We hiked, biked, toured, worshipped, and ate...a lot! 

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards!  We missed the "cattle drive," but after Zach realized the cattle were being driven from one side of the block to the other for the tourists, he wasn't too sad.  The longhorns here all look like their pregnant with their round bellies.  No wonder the ground meat in the US has so much fat in it! 

And I had my first beef ribs!  I'm sure I've had pork ones, but this was the "all-you-can-eat ribs!"  That much meat on my plate was...well...delicious and a bit of a culture shock.  I can only imagine what my Nigerian brothers and sisters would think of that!  Notice the dog behind Zach...see any similarities? Written by Christy 

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