here we are....

So I have decided to start a blog, cause that's what you do when you move to another country, right? I have always wanted to start a blog but I didn't think my life was interesting enough to write about. I guess my life has gotten a bit more interesting, but I don't want that to be my sole motivation for starting this. I will post pictures and give some updates, but I also desire this to be a space to process some of these major changes occurring in my life (moving abroad, living on my own, starting a full-time job), share a quote, song or verse that is speaking to me, and ultimately tell of the works of the Lord in my life. I may be setting too high of expectations for myself, so we will see how successful I will be in carrying those things out!

Well, I will start out by giving a brief explanation of why I have chosen to name my blog, "These Pleasant Places". If you know me well, you have probably heard me mention Psalm 16 and my love for that passage of scripture at some point. (It is an incredible Psalm & if you are not familiar with it you should open up your Bible and read it!) I find the language contained in the verses so pleasing to read, that I mull over its words again and again. My favorite part of the Psalm is contained in verses 5 and 6:
  
       "Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

 Isn't that beautiful? I could go on and on about these verses alone. I read of the security of life in Christ, that we find ourselves in places He has drawn boundary lines around and we are to call those places "pleasant". I know that sometimes we wish our boundaries lines extended a little further or didn't go so far, and pleasant isn't always the word we would choose to describe the places we find ourselves in. Though, if we allow the Lord to be our portion and cup, He will supply security and contentment in our personal boundary lines and we can taste pleasantness even in the most trying and confusing of places. And like David, I believe we can stand and say "surely I have a delightful inheritance", a Kingdom-inheritance.

My move to Ecuador to teach 1st grade was definitely not in my foreseen places. I had little desire to teach my first year out of college, let alone teach 1st grade (out-of-comfort-zone!), and moving overseas was something I was to entertain when I had some financial security. Yet, one evening in June, I found myself wrestling with the Lord about going to this unforeseen place. I was fearful and confused; my rational and "play it safe" mentality had me very apprehensive about the financial piece of it all. Though, the Lord overcame my financial anxiety that arose at the thought of this move. He turned a spirit of worry and fear into a spirit of overwhelming peace and security. Now in that spirit, I can see his hand in where my boundary lines have fallen and I can taste the pleasantness of this place. So my prayer is that in the triumphs and failures, and joys and sorrows of this move I can stand and share of "These Pleasant Places" my good Father has brought me to.

-Es