Throwing up my praises to God!

Funny title for a blogpost.  The alternate title could have been “reflections while running to the busstop”, but I thought throwing up my praises might catch someone’s eye!

Picture this:  we’ve been sick, on and off, for over 3 weeks.  First it was Steve.  Then Barb left to go to the Netherlands for a conference on refugees, and was feeling great and thankful that she hadn’t been sick.  But then she got sick while at the conference, and came home and was in bed for another week in Sweden.  Yuck!  Barb, being the nurse that she is, can tell you exactly when we were exposed to the flu virus (the days of our Swedish exams, January 30&31, as a fellow student was coughing, coughing, coughing and sneezing and feeling miserable but still came to take the exams!)  Enough about the flu!

No, I wasn't playing peek a boo, just trying to get the most out of my steam

That really is me coming out from under my towel

It’s now Monday, we’ve had a super restful weekend and Sabbath day of rest and it’s time to get back on the bus for the 25 minute ride to our Swedish classes.  I’m feeling particularly excited, since the sun is shining.

And then I started to throw up my praises to God!

Not literally throwing up, but there were just so many things to be thankful for….

~The sunshine

~The snow on the grass

~The feeling of good health in this moment

~The Swedish classes that we are participating in and enjoying so much

~The fellow students in the classroom that we are learning to love

~Our Swedish teachers

~Our ministry partner, Wesleykyrkan

~Our ministry partners in the Evangelical Covenant Church and around the world who pray for us and support us and care for us

Steve has no idea all the "throwing up" that is happening right behind him on the path

And then I noticed the bus was coming!

Oh no, here comes the bus!

Now, if we missed this bus, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  We would just catch the next bus.  But in that moment, feeling blessed by the sun and good health, I yelled out to Steve that we should just run and try to make the bus.  Which is exactly what we did.  And we made it on time for the bus.  Breathless, I scanned my bus pass while saying “tack så jättemycket!” (thank you so very much) to our kind bus driver.  

Hold that bus, please!

We sat down and Steve commented about how much energy I had after having been in bed for so many days (over a week at this point).  To which I said “what are you thankful for, Steve?  I just threw up a bunch of praises to God and now I have to say thank you God that we were strong enough to run to the bus.”

Throw up your praises to God.  It brings such joy to your heart and a smile to your face.

A few of the New Swedes (immigrants) that we passed on our way to school