Monday, October 30, 2006

Blessings, Birthdays, and Dancing








"He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him forevermore. Dost thou feel that all thy desires are satisfied in Jesus, and that thou has no want now but to know more of Him, and to have closer fellowship with Him?"
As I read those words of Charles Spurgeon during my morning devotion, I began to realize how deeply my heart was aching for a deeper fellowship and regeneration of my soul. I have been feeling a tiny bit depleted lately in the area of spiritual fellowship and renewal. I thank the Lord every Sunday for the freedom I have to worship here, but there is definitely a gap I feel since everything about the service is in Chinese. I have been listening to my dad's sermons online every week which has definitely fed my spirit, but I needed some refreshment in the area of worship and praise as well. As I began watching the message from last week, I noticed that the time at the bottom of the screen was longer than normal and soon realized that the entire service was online, not just the message. My heart literally did a little flip flop in my chest and I began to get really excited. As I listened to the music and reflected on the words, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit begin to wash over me. After listening to the singing the first time, I thought to myself, "You know you wanna sing along, so do it!" So I started the video over again and just sat in front of the computer and sang along about 3 times with the choir and congregation. The presence of the Lord has been so powerful here at times during my quiet times and I know He is forever with me. It isn't that His love and presence isn't enough, because it certainly is, but since being here I have really begun to realize the importance of fellowship with other believers. God blesses us with friends and family who can be encouragers and pillars of strength during times in our life. Praise Him today and thank Him for the blessings you have been given in friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, the freedom to worship and gather together, and most importantly His Holy Spirit!!
This past week was also great for me in that I got to experience something special about the University. My students told me on Thursday that they were in a dance competition during the weekend and wanted me to come and watch. Dee and I decided to go Saturday night, not really knowing what to expect, and watched as my students competed against other dance teams that are at the university. They had very elaborate costumes and about 15-20 different teams competed against each other. It was a little disheartening to see that the dancing was very western, slightly provocative, and did not include much of the traditional style of Chinese dancing. But it was entertaining nonetheless and the students seemed to have a great time performing.
On Sunday night, I got to spend some time with some of the other foreign teachers as we celebrated Bunny's birthday. Bunny is my language teacher, and her boyfriend arranged for all her students to get together at a restaurant to celebrate her 26th birthday. It was so much fun and was a great way to start the week. We all agreed at the end of the night that we shouldn't always wait for a special occassion to hang out and will hopefully get together more often in the future.

2 comments:

Lori A. Thompson said...

Hello Lori, We are friends of your Dad's here in Mauldin. I am Steve and my wife's name is Lori. I am a police captain at Mauldin PD. You may remember. Anyway, we will be praying for you and that you always feel God's presense and that your quiet times of worship are blessed and that your relationships continue to grow.

In Christ, Steve, Lori, Kristen and Evan Moore

www.moorenewslive.com

foxofbama said...

God Bless you Lori:
Visiting my sister Marsha here about three blocks from your home and saw where she or Owen had checked your blog.
When I get back to Bama will let your Great Uncle Red know that you are making reports from China so he can check in with you.
Marsha and I went to a funeral in Gaffney yesterday, member of a dear family, the whole family friends of ours. Four of that family went to Mars Hill.
Here in the states we are on the eve of a major election. As you spread the Baptist witness there, especially to colleagues who could use the insight of a young believer who spent more than her fair share of time in the Samford Library when she was in Bham--insert smilie face emoticon here--a good look at my friend Randall Balmer's Where Have All the Baptists Gone in his Thy Kingdom Come could be good devotional study.
Balmer has twice been Dotson Nelson lecturer at Samford.
I should wind down now before Your Momma calls my sister and says STeve went on a little too long.
Two things: I called in to make a comment to Tom Corts on statewide TV in Bama couple weeks ago. Thought you would want to know--another smilie emoticon
And I forgot the other, other than to say you are an Inspiration; God Bless you.
I may see Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler in a few weeks. She will be proud of you as well.
Stephen Fox
Bama