I'd Rather Have You

In addition to what’s already been shared in last week’s posting, I’d like to add that at some point during the evening flight from Korea to Chiang Mai, I felt I really needed encouragement. I think it was just after Ju (the Chief Purser) told me that they received a call from the Korean grounds crew at the airport and the phone couldn’t be found. I remember talking to God and saying, “Lord, can you help me even as I’m way up here?” I just finished reading a book that told me to read Psalm 56 aloud, to encourage myself, so I set out to do it. I borrowed a Bible (tiny!) and stood right under the light for my seat and turned to it. The verses below spoke to me so I read it aloud at least three times (Note that I inadvertently turned to Psalm 36 instead of Psalm 56!):

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.
How priceless is your unfailing love!
Psalm 36:5-7

I was amazed that there I was, in a flying plane cruising at thousands of miles above the earth, literally in the skies, and the Lord spoke of His love and faithfulness that reaches to the heavens. What a God, how truly incomprehensible and priceless is His unfailing love! He knew where I was, what I needed, what would speak to me. Had I correctly turned to Psalm 56, it would have told me not to be afraid but to trust Him. Well, I wasn’t feeling fear and I do trust Him so those verses wouldn’t have done much for me. I just know that I had to make that mistake. In the dimness of the lighting in the plane, He turned me to the right verses.

Secondly, because the phone was a wedding anniversary gift (in February) from Eng, I was truly concerned about his reaction. He’s the type that when something gets lost (especially expensive ones!), he gets distressed (and all of us along with him!) and mad. It was one of my prayers that he would take my unfortunate news well. When I told him about it on Monday morning though, all he said was that he was sorry to hear it. Wow(!). Later at school, I cried as I realized the grace, what God had done for me. I chose to be grateful that I had that phone for as long as I did but I was also grieved for all that I lost (pictures, recorded songs and prayers, notes, etc.). I’m glad though that when I did cry, it was because of the Lord's kindness.

The next day, I went to Eng and told him that I was thankful that he wasn’t mad at me for losing the phone. It was then that he said the above, “I’d rather have you (than the phone)." That was the sweetest statement he’d said to me in a long time. =)

Lastly, my friend in Korea offered to buy me an iPhone to replace the one I lost. I don’t know that she actually will but when she wrote that, it really ministered to me. I knew that God was loving me and answering my prayers through her. I don’t deserve her offer, nor any of what’s happened (and all that I've learned as noted in last week's “Lost and Found” posting). For that and more, I’m really glad I lost the phone! That there is a crazy statement but an honestly TRUE one.

Oh, and just to satisfy your curiosity, I found out the next day that I turned to the wrong chapter in Psalms when I wanted to read the passage again. I rightly turned to Psalm 56 and was confused when the verses were missing. Only after investigating did I find out that the verses were in Psalm 36. God is just too good.