"Why don't you write a book?"

Moving to another country comes with challenges, as to be expected.  There are adjustments to be made and a lot of new things to learn.  And you can probably guess what challenges you might encounter, but it is hard to know for sure until you go through it.  And such "as is common to man", I too have had my challenges, revealing that my adjustment is "normal."

My adjusting to life in a new country has brought up a lot of questions. Questions about life and how to think biblically about the new and "foreign" things I encounter. In some ways my mounting questions is surprisingly humbling to me because I thought I already approached life with a biblical mindset and yet I feel like a child having to start all over and reanalyze every aspect of my life.

But I am reminded by my friends that this is a good thing.  That it is good to have these things in my life which cause me to "examine myself to see if I am in the faith."  Many of my questions come up in the area of preferences.  Americians in general have certain preferences of how they approach life.  Filipinos in general have preferences on how they approach life, and they don't always match up.  So what do I do?  Do I pick one?  Which one?  I want to pick the biblical one.  But if I pick one does that mean the other one is wrong?

So one day I was sitting and talking with my husband about my struggles and I said, "do you know what my dream is?  To meet a biblically-minded godly woman who has already thought through all theses things and can sit down with me and help teach me the answers."  To which he replied, "you know what... you are more than qualified yourself to find those answers, so why don't you write a book?"

His response and counsel was so freeing!  The Word of God is sufficient and transcends culture and preferences.  I am fully convinced that in it lies all of the answers I am seeking about how to live a god-honoring life in a country not my own. I think many of us often spend too much time listening to themselves rather than talking to themselves.  They waste time listening to their worries, fears, desires, wants, etc. rather than talking to themselves with the Word of God.

I figure a good place to start is to name the problem.  So I have been making a long list of all of the questions I want to answer with the Word of God. Questions I want to stop listening to myself about and instead start talking to myself about what God says in His Word.  And already as I begin to form my thoughts into questions I can see the answer, the hope, the rest that awaits for me in Scripture! So here are the questions I want to have biblical answers for, answers where I can explain confidently from the Word of God why I believe what I do and how that impacts my actions in life.

CULTURE

1. Purpose of trials, suffering, and failure in believers

2. Worldly allurements and influences (and the Armor of God)

3. Wisdom as a plum line and guideline for life, 
4.     How to develop biblical convictions

5. Citizenship in heaven

6. Identity and unity in Christ

7. Preferences vs commands

8. Seeking God not good; seeking eternal not temporal

9.     Danger of walking in fultility of mind.

10.     How to measure faithfulness

11.   How to handle guilt.

FEARING GOD

1. Wisdom of God

2. Untraceable circumstances (taking eyes off circumstances and onto God)

3. Providence of God, His faithful sovereignty in life's circumstances.

4. Kindness of God (near to brokenhearted, suffering and lonely)

5. Understanding of God (what it is like to leave your home; incarnation)

6. Creator God  (appreciating God’s creation and creative handiwork in variety of people and culture)

7. Refuge and Rest in God

8.     Will of God
9.     Comfort of God

WORK
1. Theology of work
2. Work before the fall
3. Cursed ground after the fall
4. Painful toil of work
5. Vanity of toil
6. Laziness
7. Redeeming your time

These are just to get me started, as I am sure it will be tweaked as I start to study more.  Choosing to believe in the sufficiency of Scriptures brings such rest.  I am thankful for the Word of God and the instructions that God has given to us and how to know Him better.  What area of your own life do you need to stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself?  Why don't you write a book?