Joy In a Stolen Bicycle

So this past week has been an interesting one. I've been settling in with my host/flatmate, Diana. She is this amazing woman of God who is Spirit filled and Spirit led. It's awesome to be living with such a wonderfully sweet woman who truly lives out her faith. She can sound a bit cooky at times, but that's partly because she doesn't mind standing out in the crowd.

I started gaining a little independence this week by learning the routes and borrowing a bicycle to take those routes! It was great on Monday, biking to the office in the morning and not making anyone have to give me a lift. It was also great on Tuesday as I got a little lost and was a little late arriving in Tremorfa. I got independence and exercise! 

Then came the interesting part: I locked up the bicycle on the bike rack outside the church where we were working on Tuesday. It was a bright, sunny day, the blinds in the church were all open, and we had someone doing some maintenance on the building from the outside. We were having a great time inside building relationships with some mothers of young children, playing with the kids and having lunch with all of them, when I took a look outside. What I saw were 4 bike racks with no bike to be seen. I went outside to double check and found that all the racks were empty and under the one where the bike had been was what was left of my bike-lock. My bike was stolen!

So for the rest of the day I was left to carry the heavy bag that was designed to attach to the bike. And while I was able to catch a train nearby, I still had to walk a bit more than a mile. So here I am, walking home and really just having a pity party. I started listing all the things that had gone wrong that week and of course things just spiralled from there. 

But somewhere in the middle of my complaining, I felt God nudging me. Suddenly this happy, kind of goofy song popped in my head and I felt like I should sing it. I really didn't want to, but ended up singing anyways. I don't know what the other people on the sidewalk were thinking, but I started singing, and then the song turned to a worship song, and then another! Soon, I was praising God instead of just complaining to Him! It turned my whole day around. I was happy the rest of the day, no matter what happened, and I've still been surprisingly happy whenever the bike is brought up. I've started praying that whoever took the bike would feel so guilty about taking it that he would return it and get saved! You may join me in praying for this if you like.

God has been teaching me to praise Him, no matter the circumstance. And it turns out that it will change your view entirely. It's like when you smile while you're in a bad mood, you will suddenly be in a good mood and thinking about why you're in a good mood. 

So thank you, Lord, for what you are doing in this community and with this unknown person who will soon be saved. I pray you will be blessed this week. 

If you would like email updates, please email me at Natasha@heartlandfw.org.

We are still well below our goal financially, so please pray about contributing towards this trip. If you are unsure if you can afford to contribute: stay tuned for the next episode of Natasha's Journeys