God Speaks Through Philippians

At church today we had Mr. Bruce Kuhn give a dramatic monologue of the book of Philippians. That sounds really uptight-fancy I know, but I say it like that cause I don't want to make it sound like he just read the book in front of everyone. It was really good, it wasn't a play or anything, he just spoke the words as if he were Paul actually saying them to the Philippian church.
Here's what the Spirit was pointing out to me - saying "this is for you"...

• "...you must live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven."
• "...glory and praise to God." "...to the glory of God the Father." More and more I hear this, I know it and I begin to realize that all of life, all of missions, all of creation is for this purpose: the Glory of God. One of my favourite quotes is from a Moravian missionary leaving home (to sell himself into slavery in order to reach the slaves). As the ship pulled out of port he yelled back to his family, "May the Lamb who was slain, receive the reward of His suffering." I can only hope that I go with the same attitude, and that it centers me in those times when I am lost in selfish ambition, homesickness or petty conflicts.
• "Hold tightly to the word of life..." This goes with the above (they all start to connect), scripture has always been such a source of life for me. I've gone through spurts where I have just reveled in it, running lines all over my pages to pull out my favourite verses. And then I have what is most of my time, where I don't read God's word enough, and I feel it. I need to hold tight to His word through all of life and especially as things get busy, tough, emotional, international!
• "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice!" As above, I need the joy of the Lord, I need to be rooted in Him.
• "Let your gentleness be known to all men." Coming out of this year of work, I have found that my sarcasm has returned, not that I want to discard my sense of humor, but I want to keep it in check. I want bless people and encourage them. I never want to offend anyone. I want my gentleness to be known to all.

And so with 2.5 days left in my Canadian pre-Midwife life this is where I am at: waiting, praying, goodbye-ing, crying, packing, dreaming. The goodbyes are awful. They started in earnest tonight, and even still I just don't let myself think about them, I mean I even feel responsible because people are going to miss me. It feels awful. These next 2.5 days will be busy and they will be hard, but I want to cherish every moment with those I love!

"May the Lamb who was slain, receive the reward of His suffering."