Blessings

Blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Perhaps blessings stem from holidays. Perhaps from hard labor. Perhaps from someone else. But, why is it that God often chooses to bless us for no other reason than for the sake of blessing us? Lew and I experienced these blessings this last week and of course that led to some interesting conversations about God and His blessings.

Since school is out and we had a week before we head back to the classroom for summer school, we decided to take a vacation. In my mind the idea of a vacation included a lot of rest. The last few weeks have been busy with school ending and endless projects and I wanted some time to be 'disconnected' from the world. To rest, to think, to pray, to read...you get the picture. So, we decided to take three days and head to Kumejima, an island about 4 hours away by boat. Now, if you remember from our roadtripping days, I (Ark), am a planner. We had that trip nicely outlined and the budget set weeks before we left. This trip we decided to 'wing it' and see what happened. There is only one ferry to the island per day, so I had visions of sleeping on the beach because a hotel wouldn't accept 'walk ins'. It would definitely be a true adventure. The ferry ride, though slightly wet, was relaxing and Lew and I got some good rest during the trip. Once we stepped off the boat, we looked at each other with that, "Hmmm, now what" look. I guess the first thing would be finding transportation. In our limited Japanese and the rental car man's limited English, we were able to rent a small car for our days on the island...and it was much cheaper than we expected.

Blessings One: "Mushi"...our trusty rental car that ran well and had good AC. I see this as God's blessing on us because of the price as well as the availability!

Well, the next place to go was to look for a hotel or hostel or bed & breakfast or some place to sleep for 2 nights. We had written some hotel information down before leaving Okinawa, and forgotten it on the kitchen table. Oh well. We started driving in a "random" direction and "happened" upon the Cypress Hotel and Resort. When we saw the view from the parking lot and the word 'resort' in the name, we both thought it would be way past our missionary budget. But to both of our amazement, it wasn't.

Blessing Two: We paid for a hotel room with amazing beachfront views, full amenities, and breakfast included for nearly nothing at all. I was reminded that there is no 'random' or 'happening' when we seek to follow the Lord. He loves to direct and leads us to the BEST!

So...we had a car and a place to sleep and it was only 2pm. We decided to begin our 'Sabbath' by taking a 4 hour nap. When we awoke, the next step was to hop in Mushi and explore Kumejima a bit. We visited castles, big rocks, coastlines, and watched the sunset over the ocean.

Blessing Three: God loves to bless me with beautiful pictures in nature. The sunset and the moon rising at the same time were definitely displays of His beauty!

As we were searching our map for a place to eat dinner, the Arizona Cafe caught both of our attention. How in the world could there really be an Arizona Cafe on a remote island in the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan? After some driving and amazing map skills (no thanks to Ark), we arrived. It wasn't the typical cafe you would expect in Arizona. But just being there was fun.

Blessing Four: God knew that two Arizona girls would get really excited over eating at the Arizona Cafe on Kumejima. Did He bring the Arizona Cafe to Kumejima simply for us? Who am I to say no? He is just that good.

After dinner, sleep was calling my name again.

Blessing Five: God gave me a total of 14 hours of sleep in the first 24 on the island. Sweet rest for my weary body!

Monday included a very strange and not so tasty Japanese breakfast, a drive around the island stopping at the prettiest locations, including waterfalls, rocks, cliffs, and beaches.

Blessing Six: God created waterfalls specifically for me. Whenever you see one, you can thank me for sharing the blessing that God gave. Seeing a waterfall on Kumejima was not expected. It was just like God saying, "I know you like this and I give good gifts, so here you go." Thank you, Lord for the blessing of a waterfall.

Of course, the day couldn't be complete with a nap and some downtime. More resting and reading and rejuvenating was in store for the afternoon. Our final morning on the island included a slightly tastier-and-not-so-strange breakfast, sitting by the pool, and then finishing our time on the beach. The ferry ride home was spent thinking...how often does one just take the time to think and 'be' and rest and enjoy God's presence?

Blessing Seven: Coming home completely rejuvenated and rested from the end of school.

I'm sure there were more blessings that I have failed to share here. It seemed as though the entired weekend was filled with one blessing after another. My prayer now is that I would see the blessings God gives on a daily basis so I can give thanks. How many blessings does He give that we aren't even aware of? Or pay attention to? Or acknowledge as a blessing? May the Father of good gifts open my eyes to see and rejoice in them all!