You never let go of me

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

Your perfect love is casting out fear 

And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life

I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

We sang this song on Prayer Emphasis Day (Thursday - a monthly event where the entire organization gathers to pray the entire day and fast from lunch), and I thought it was really meaningful. Also, when I was singing it, I closed my eyes partly because I was tired and partly because I was singing it from the heart. Then later, one of my German friends came up to me and said, 'I think you're really beautiful, I thought that when you were singing just now.' And I was like, awwww... uh, okay. I'm pretty sure my face was scrunched up when I was singing my heart out, I was really exhausted from praying all day and not sleeping much the night before, and pimples have been building homes on my chin since I've been here (don't know why - maybe it's the water or the air or the lack of sleep or the not-so-healthy food). 

                                           

But anyway, that's not the point. The point is, I love this song because God never lets go. Not in the desert, not in the wilderness, not in the storm, not ever. And as we hold on to our faith, with every passing day, we grow closer to spending a wondrous eternity with God.

All in all, Prayer Emphasis Day was really good. It was wonderful to see all the teams again, to hear stories of their ministry, and to pray for their needs and the needs of other missionaries and countries. We heard from two missionaries serving in Turkey, of how 99.9% of the people there are Muslim, and how numerous girls have been physically and emotionally abused when they came to Christ. It's just amazing, seeing God's hand move through Muslim nations; I'm always fascinated, but I don't think I could work with them, because I think you need a special heart and a calling to do so. The girls in the team that works with Muslims are incredibly passionate about them; they're just the sweetest, most self-sacrificial girls I've ever met, and they have such a huge heart for Muslims. 

Sometimes I wish I could be passionate about a particular group of people, but I think I have a heart for youth and kids. We went for another church's youth group on Friday, and it was so good to hang out with non-Christian teenagers, talk to them, play games with them (we played Guitar Hero, table tennis, pool, and foosball), and just build relationships with them. It's funny how teenagers everywhere are pretty much the same; no matter where they come from, they still like the same kind of music and games, the boys still act cool and tease the girls they like, and everyone is still glued to texting on their phones.

I also love kids. I may not know how to act around them sometimes, because playing with kids involves being stupid and doing silly things I normally would not do, but whenever I hear of or see kids suffering or being treated unfairly by life, my heart just breaks, and I want to do everything I can to help them. But I don't know how or what to do. So I just pray and hope that somehow my little prayer does something for the kid.

Note: I don't know why blogger won't allow me to get rid of this black background, so just bear with this ugly-looking post.