"...Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end--Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy one of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you...that's how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you. So don't be afraid: I'm with you. I'll round up all your scattered children, pull them in from east and west. I'll send orders north and south: 'Send them back. Return My sons from distant lands, My daughters from faraway places. I want them back, every last one who bears My name, every man, woman, and child whom I created for My glory, yes, personally formed and made each one.... You're My handpicked servant so that you'll come to know and trust Me, understand both that I am and who I am. Previous to Me there was no such thing as a god, nor will there be after Me. I, yes I, am God. I'm the only Savior there is. I spoke, I saved, I told you what existed long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene. And you know it, you're My witnesses, you're the evidence.... Yes, I am God. I've always been God and I always will be God. No one can take anything from Me. I make; who can unmake it? ...Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands...."
~isaiah 43:1-7,10-13,18-19
oh, i love that passage! God used it in so many ways on the mission trip...with my girls in dance, the skits during praise and worship, when i gave my testimony (which was really cool by the way!) and then there's a guy named Jeff that's one of the leaders for our group. he's moving away to go back to school = ( but he was really discouraged one day and he found my Bible that was still opened to that from earlier in the day, it was just what he needed. i like how things like that work out....
"Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves...and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."
~romans 8:26-28
