Wisdom from a Friend

My friend Allison is in Germany as a missionary teaching school. This was in her last email. She also posted it on her blog http://www.allisonraestroud.blogspot.com, but I really felt like this was a better explanation. It touched my heart when I read it this afternoon. Hope you enjoy.

"This morning my friend Délice was talking about a song by Sara Groves "Painting Pictures of Egypt." It talks about how sometimes when we're in a new situation we sometimes yearn for the comfortable and familiar surroundings of what we used to know. If you remember, the Israelites were like that when they left Egypt and wandered in the desert. They started to complain to Moses that things were better back in Egypt. Somehow they left out the part about how they were enslaved to Pharoah and the Egyptians! I've been moving around my whole life, starting from the time I was 15 months old. I can't tell you what it's like to live in the same house your entire life or even live in the same town (or I guess country for that matter as well!) for your whole life. I love the feeling of moving somewhere new, and yet, when the going gets tough or just the slightest bit uncomfortable, I start wishing I was back somewhere else, forgetting that at that time and point of my life, things might have been even more miserable and unsettling then they are now! I downloaded this song on iTunes and it has become a new favorite. I wanted to share the lyrics with you because I know that some of you reading this are about to go through some major transitions as well or maybe you're reading this and there's a major transition ahead that you don't know about (because isn't that the way God loves to work!). Just remember, like this song says, God has changed you from the person you WERE into the person you are NOW. And that person you were 10 years ago (or even one year ago) couldn't do what you're doing now or live where you're living now or work where you're working now. God has us all where He wants us for the season and time He wants us there.
Love, Allison

"Painting Pictures of Egypt"
by Sara Groves
I don't want to leave here I don't want to stay It feels like pinching to me Either way And the places I long for the most Are the places where I've been They are calling out to me Like a long lost friend It's not about losing faith It's not about trust It's all about comfortable When you move so much And the place I was wasn't perfect But I had found a way to live And it wasn't milk or honey But then neither is this I've been painting pictures of Egypt, Leaving out what it lacks The future feels so hard, And I wanna go back But the places that used to fit me, Cannot hold the things I've learned Those roads were closed off to me While my back was turned The past is so tangible I know it by heart Familiar things are never easy To discard I was dying for some freedom But now I hesitate to go I am caught between the Promise And the things I know I've been painting pictures of Egypt, Leaving out what it lacks The future feels so hard, And I wanna go back But the places that used to fit me, Cannot hold the things I've learnedThose roads were closed off to me While my back was turned If it comes too quick I may not appreciate it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?And if it comes too quickI may not recognize it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?"
Allison Stroud4th and 5th GradesRhein Int'l Academywww.allisonraestroud.blogspot.comPhil. 4:11