Be Still and Know...

Me, Holly, and Bethany enjoying the best ice-cream I've ever tasted...ever!

A couple shots of the beautiful beach we spent the afternoon at.

This is over looking downtown Auckland from on top of Mount Eden. You may recognize the famouse Skytower "towering" over the city...
Rachel, Holly, me, and Bethany...we love playing eucher together.
The sun setting over Auckland. Beautiful, isn't it?

This morning in my devotions, I read the following:

"His voice demands the silence of the soul...My soul, hast thou pondered these words, 'Be still, and know'?," referring to Psalm 46:10, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Later on in our group devotions after breakfast, we were directed to Psalm 63: 3-5 which says, "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you."

I feel as though this whole day was full of moments where my soul could "Be still, and know that He is God," and He gave me reminders all day long of how His love really is better than life. I feel as though all I experienced today was full of blessings poured out of the recesses of God's never-ending love for me. Whether through continuing to form new friendships with the rest of my group, walking along the beach, laying out in the sand and letting the sun kiss my skin (you will be glad to hear, mom, that I wore two layers of sun screen and didn't burn at all, after the tellers at the bank where we exchanged our money took one look at me and said, 'You have very fair skin and the burn index is 12 minutes today, so you best wear a lot of sun screen'), looking out over the sun setting on the city of Auckland from Mount Eden, eating the best ice cream I've ever tasted at Mission Bay (a waffle cone with a scoop of Caffe Mocha Machiatto and a scoop of Tiramisu...$7.50 of deliciousness), or in the simplicity of hanging up my clean clothes to dry on the clothes line in the court yard of the Bible college (using the washing machine here is free, but the dryers cost money...what does a poor college student do in this situation? hang the clothes up outside, of course...which reminded me of so many childhood summer afternoons spent helping Grandma Cline hang up her laundry), I experienced how God's love truly is better than life.

Well, it's getting late and I best be turning in, seeing as how we actually have to start classes and homework tomorrow. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a vacation and that I am still taking 15.5 credit hours this semester.

Before I say goodnight, here are a few pictures from the day. I will create an album in the next day or so, but I'll give you enough tonight to whet your appetite for the rest.