Land of Milk and Honey: Fulfilled Promises

Hello, Lovely People! Still living in Switzerland, I am now staffing the Bible Core Course On Location: a school that I took, as a student, last year. Throughout the duration of this school, students read through the entire Bible, studying many books inductively, as we travel to various historical locations in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Italy! It was honestly the time of my life and it is a joy to facilitate what I hope will be equally amazing experience for these students.

So far, in class, everyone has been introduced to the inductive method; the method that we will be using to study the Bible heron out. This is

a very thorough way to look at the Bible, prioritizing context and the intent/perception of the writings from the original writers and readers. It enables one, through various steps, to find the structure and the heart of each book, on the macro and the micro levels, through a lot of reading, observation, interpretation, and application. It helps put the Bible together as a cohesive whole, logically. We are using this method and practicing it first with the books of Philemon and 1st Peter.

I'm really enjoying being able to sit in lectures again, taking in what I was once taught, refreshing what I already had and learning new things that my own school never covered, completely. It is a joy to assist the students in any way that I can and to walk alongside them. I love the traveling part of this school so much, and I'm excited to revisit physical places as well as spiritual ones.

I always love being in Switzerland. It is an example of a nation founded on the value of human life. It is a country with a very peaceful atmosphere and is quite balanced, I think, in its cultural approach to the areas of work and rest, of family and time, of health and celebration. I spend many of my days off either walking through the natural scenery or through the beautiful city streets.

Over a month ago, after having spent two weeks back in California to visit, I was sitting in the Lausanne cathedral --a favorite place of mine-- to pray. I was immediately reminded that the last time I had been sitting here, just a few weeks beforehand, I had prayed to God about three very specific things. Since then, I had seen him move in all three of these areas, which such clarity and intentional timing that I was somewhat astonished. I've been living here (in and out, of course) for a year now, and within that time, God has made me several promises. Now, I do not ever take the promises of God lightly, and I never claim to have received one from him unless I am absolutely certain of it. However, even in those which I was unsure of at the time, he has come through with since. I've learned a valuable lesson and that is to pray truly honestly. Even after all of this time, I have sometimes felt this weird sense to hold back or to be selective about what I express in prayer. When thinking about this, of course, the notion is quite silly, if one claims to be praying to an all-knowing God who sees into the depths of the mind and soul. I have grown more and more comfortable in this area, as I see nothing but complete honesty and even, at time, vexation, from many leaders and heroes of the Bible, in their communication with God. There is a way to ask questions and to express thoughts and emotions with love, just as he does with us. Sometimes I would pray those prayers that go something like this: "Lord, if you will, then maybe I could possibly do/have this thing? If you want, of course. It's actually really up to you. I'm like whatever. It's all in your will Holy God, Jesus Christ. I don't even have a preference...." I think he would rather have a misguided prayer that is prayed with sincerity than this kind of nonsense. Why would we pretend we don't care about things that we do? Even if we know we shouldn't be upset about something or feel a certain way, it's not wrong to express struggles. We are creatures of passions, desires, drive, and creativity: traits of God. We can be misguided in these things and by these things, of course. In fact, often the answer to a prayer is a no. He does not shun us, however, for being human or for having a certain way we would like things to be. And if we are growing continually closer to God, as we should always aim to be doing, then we will find that our hopes and dreams become more and more in line with his own, expressed through the unique personalities and stories that he has given us.

While it is a simple truth, and one that we repeat over and over again within the church, I often find myself revisiting it and it hits me more each time I study scripture: God is a faithful God. Not once does he make a promise that he doesn't keep or state something about himself that is not consistent. I heard this hundreds of times throughout my life before I was able to believe it, and it is from the trust that I have with

him, in my own personal intimacy with him, that I am able to approach questions and challenges. It is important to think critically and only natural to feel confused about a lot that goes on in life and in the story of God. The difference that has taken place, for me, is to ask questions with the expectation that, even if I don't currently see it, there will be love in the answer. If I haven't found it yet, the question has not been answered for me. In the past, I was afraid to ask questions of God's goodness, as I was afraid of what the answer might be. Otherwise, my questions were like challenges or even accusations, expressing cynicism and skepticism, more than genuinely desiring a truthful explanation.

He has never failed me, and I am so grateful for the life I've lived; through the good and the bad. Everything that I've done and experienced has led me to where I am now, and there is nowhere else that I would rather be. I am quite content, but learning to find the balance between simply being where I'm at, content, and looking forward to more growth and vision. In the meantime, I need to do all that I can to be faithful to God as he is to me. What are promises that I have made to him and to myself? Perhaps it is a time to revisit such things and to progress, there, focused, before moving on.

We have so much to look forward to, as a school. Easter weekend, of course, is an important one. Then we will be studying the book of Acts and Matthew before we leave, on May 3rd, for our first stop: Cairo, Egypt!

If you want to keep up with what I'm doing and what is going on with the school that I'm staffing, simply message me or email me to be added to my newsletter list. You can also follow me on instagram: @elvishem.

Thank you so much for reading!

-- Emily Kathey

#switzerland #living #spiritual