Yes, I Recognize My Weirdness

 

You can treasure the weirdness that is Cara or you can think "crazy woman!" and run away, but I am self-aware enough to know the truth of my strangeness.  In many ways.  This unconventionality is partially manifested by the fact that I have a desire to go to places most would not.  The dark, repulsive, forgotten places on this earth tug at and call out to my heart.  For some time now I been praying about going to a tumultuous country like Syria or Afghanistan because they are so very desperately needing medical personnel and people who will love them hard. It's easy to love people who love you, but loving those that are harder to love is simply a delight.


"Watch out, here I come from a corn field to love you, dear people!"

Many tell me this is odd.  "Stay where it's safe," they say. "Stay where you can make money and be close to your friends and family," they chime.  But a "safe and easy" life is not what God has drawn me to.  Normality I can never claim.

Talking with workers in the aforementioned countries, I discovered that going to one of them as an American woman might just cause more problems than help, what with needing 24-hour bodyguards and whatnot.  Thus I began praying about how I could be of help to those who have been ravaged by these terrible wars.  Working with refugees in a surrounding country was an idea God nearly instantly brought to my mind.  Three days later, a doctor friend who works with an NGO wrote me asking if I would consider coming to northern Jordan to work with Syrian refugees!

"Consider it?" I thought, "By jove, God's already got me loving the idea!" 


An idea I didn't completely love?  Eating caterpillars and locusts in Zambia.   Ate one but not the other.  You can guess which one. ;)

Well, now the tickets are bought and I'm heading that way!  I'll be working with a hospital near a Syrian refugee camp for a couple months and yes, would most definitely appreciate your prayers!  I am excited to see what God is going to do both in me and through the medical work and relationship building over there.  I have a feeling I have a lot to learn. :)

 
An unconventional relationship-building time in Mada - switched places with a pousse-pousse driver for a day.  Weirded him and all his buddies out, but they loved it!  I'm sure while thinking "Crazy American girls..."

Another reason I want to go to these places is because Jesus Christ has changed my heart.  By His grace He has instilled such a love for the people of the world within me.  It's not a "normal" love, not one I could ever conjure up by "being a good person."  No, there is no good inside me but for that which God by His mercy and grace has bestowed for the glory of His name.

Look at what the love of God can do in Matthew 5:43-48!  Look at it's nearly unbelievable description in I Corinthians 13!  Look at what it led Christ to do for us unworthy, sinful people!

As a Hindu noted in The Life of Pi,

"Humiliation?  Death?  I couldn't imagine Lord Krishna consenting to be stripped naked, whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets and, to top it all off, crucified - and at the hands of mere humans, to boot.  I'd never heard of a Hindu god dying. ... Why would God wish that upon Himself?  Why not leave death to mere mortals?  Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect?"

  "Love."

 So why am I going to this "dangerous" place?  Why do I even care?  Why do I love?  Because Christ first loved me, and that, that has made all the difference in the world.  I John 4:19.

Aruba, Jamaica, Ooh I Wanna Take Ya!

The Island Breeze Café was the next stop on our sketchy restaurant tour of Nashville.  I think the cafe was going for a hint of Jamaica …definitely had a Rastafarian vibe going on. :P  

  

Humorously, almost as soon as we sat down, a waiter came over and asked us what we would like to eat.  We requested a menu to peruse and he just chuckled.  “There isn’t a menu, but I can tell you what we have.” After listing off dishes to choose from, we each told him our favorite options.  He came back a couple different times, first to tell Carly they no longer had the rice she wanted and then to inform Kierston they were out of her entire dish. :P 

That right there reminded me very much of Mada where, when they were out of a dish it was either “sorry folks,” or “sure we can get that!” Next thing you know the cook goes out the side door and grabs a live chicken to kill.  That’s when you know it’s going to be a while before you get your food! ;)

As always, it was good to chat with Carly and Kierston, and a special treat to grab some DQ afterwards.  Anyone who’s been around me for even a short amount of time knows I love ice cream!

I feel like I have been spoiled rotten pretty much my entire life.  How much I have been blessed!  And definitely the most by God revealing Himself to me.  He did not have to do that.  He does not need me to make Him complete.  But oh how He who is rich in mercy is faithful to show His beautiful, loving, and strong self to those who seek Him!  Praises be to His name. :)

Continuing the passage from Lamentations from before,

^"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"

Psalm 27:14.  He is faithful and will do it!

Spring has Come at Last

Oh hooray for beautiful, sunny days!  How I love them. :)  Perfect for a hike.

 Some falls on the way to Virgin Falls.

 A lot of the time we hiked along a stream.

People camping at the big falls.

Encouraged by this today from Lamentations 3...

²² Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

Christmas in March!

Okay, I bought presents for myself.  [nerd moment]  One of my favorite things about Nashville is the public library system that lets you order whatever books you want to read to the library closest to you for free - and then they put them on a special shelf with your name on it for easy access.  It's pretty amazing.  But anyway, every so often there are times when the library doesn't have a book I want, so I wait till I have $25 worth of these sorts of books (Amazon free shipping, baby ;) and then order them.  These came today and I am quite excited to dive in! :)

Greek and Thai

This shady (although well lit inside) restaurant we went to a couple weeks ago ended up being very timely as a new pope has recently been chosen.  Assumedly run by Catholic Egyptians (unless Coptic Christians have similar beliefs), this Greek place has a photo that was both Jesus and Mary depending how you looked at it.  Okay, it was a little creepy, but also a pretty entertaining illusion. ;)

This was also the place where we discovered our new favorite Arabic phrase, "Yalla habibi!"

Last night we headed to a sketchy-looking Thai place, but it ended up being really nice on the inside!  And I must admit that the leftovers were even better today!  One of my co-workers joined us on this jaunt and I was pretty impressed with Carly and Kierston for allowing all manner of ER talk during dinner. :o) Here's a couple of our ideas for the future: (okay, I have a penchant for those also written in Arabic ;)

One of my patients cracked me up today by informing me "y'all have the best dope in town!" after receiving some narcotic pills.  As I was encouraging another patient to drink more water, he said, "I already drink as much water as a cow!"

Are cows known to be big water drinkers?

Have you sampled a lot of the dope in this town?

Is there a more entertaining job than ER nurse?

:)