1. It takes less than 5 minutes for your dishes to air dry after hand washing them.
2. You can break into a sweat while sitting still.
3. You have an extra shower every day because you're hot and sticky.
4. You can't sleep at night unless you have a fan blowing directly on you, which might make it cool enough to actually sleep under your sheets.
5. You try to think of air conditioned places that you could visit in order to cool off.
6. You look forward to a day of rain, because you know that it will be cooler, even with the humidity.
7. You notice that some of the people who live in the apartment building across the lane wear their bathing suits all day long (while they're in their apartments anyways) because it's probably the coolest thing they can find to wear. You consider giving it a try one day.
8. You strategically plan on washing the dishes just before you're either going for a swim or to have a shower, because you know that washing the dishes in hot water will be enough to cause sweat to literally soak your body.
9. You notice that one family who lives in the apartment building across the lane sometimes puts their TV out on the deck with some chairs so they can watch TV in the "cool" evening air, as compared to the hot and stuffy air in the apartment.
10. You thoroughly enjoy taking cool showers.
11. You almost burst into tears one day, simply because of the extreme heat.
12. You eventually give in and buy air conditioners for your apartment.
Yes, I have to admit that I bought two air conditioners on the weekend. After the high of last week was 42 degrees Celcius with the humidex and I couldn't sleep at night because it was so hot, I decided that I needed to buy air conditioners in order to maintain my sanity.
It is so true that the heat will test you like nothing else can and, after not being able to sleep and almost bursting into tears a couple of times on the hottest days, I couldn't take another day like those ones. So, I went and bought air conditioners, which is actually another story of God's miraculous provision.
I couldn't really afford to buy the air conditioners, but I guess I was at a bit of a breaking point. I prayed that God would provide financially to enable me to purchase them and He did in an incredible way. On Saturday afternoon, I went to Reno Depot (the French version of Home Depot or RONA) with my aunt and found the air conditioners on sale for $88. I had decided that I wanted to buy two (they are the kind that you mount in your windows, so there is now one in the living room and one in the kitchen), which didn't seem too outrageous at only $88 each.
We asked a staff member to help us with them (they're really heavy) and we proceeded towards the checkout. Before we got there, my aunt stopped and said that she had something for me. She explained that my grandma had been wanting to give me something for quite a while and then pulled out some cash from her wallet and handed it to me. As I stood there and stared at it in stunned silence, she told me that it was $200. Still in stunned silence, we got to the checkout and the cashier scanned the two air conditioners, which came to a total of $200.55! I handed the cashier the $200 that my aunt had just given me from my grandma and pulled out $0.55 from my wallet. I just looked at my aunt in complete awe of what had just happened!
I'm reading an incredible book right now called "Always Enough" by Rolland and Heidi Baker. It's the story of their ministry to the poorest of the poor children in Mozambique, Africa. The whole premise of the book is that, because Jesus died, there is always enough of what we need to do what He has called us to do. As I'm reading the book and God is speaking louder and louder about what He has called me to do in this city (more on that in the future when I can better put it into words), I think that I wonder how because I know how little I have right now. And in response, He simply says "I am always enough."
I think I'm starting to get it that what I have really has nothing to do with what I can see and touch. My heavenly Father is the creator of the heavens and the earth, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:12), and He is always more than enough for me.
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