We just got back from 10 days in Ireland.

We were there for my brother's graduation. It was sunny the first day, but rained almost every day after. The sun came back out again on the day before we left.

I got sun burnt on the first sunny day, and then fell sick during the days after with flu, fever, cough, and sore throat when the cold winds and the rain came.

Overall, besides time with family and good experiences, it was a really bad trip. But I thank God for bad trips, because it is in these times that I am teachable, and I can learn from God. Bad trips make me talk to God more.

I remember on the day of his graduation, I was praying that God would stop the rain. I said - I will pray the same prayer Emma prayed. Stop the rain during my brother's graduation, and when it is over, you can let it rain again.

I realize I prayed the wrong prayer. My brother's graduation was indoors. Sure enough, it was raining, and when we went in for his graduation, the rain stopped. It was sunny skies as his graduation carried on INDOORS, and when it was over and we went outside, it started raining again.

I say this a lot and I'll say it again, God has a really good sense of humour. I love it.

The rain didn't stop over the next few days. It was pouring when we were on the horses and I fell so sick. I remember praying so many times for the rain to stop but it didn't. Finally I said, "Fine Lord, if You want it to rain, I'll accept it, but at least tell me why!"

He didn't tell me why straightaway. But after that I overheard an Irish man on the horse saying that that farmers were praising God because they had prayed for rain, and rain finally came.

Wah, I said. Must it come while we are traveling here? Let it come next week! Nevertheless, Your will be done. Will you make it stop after this?

The rain never stopped, even when we crossed countries from Ireland to England, and England to Ireland. The rain followed us.

I remember sitting in the rain, crying, asking God why He allowed me to feel so miserable. I was sick and it was getting wetter and wetter.

Immediately, God put a verse in my mind.

Philippians 4
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I sighed. I knew what God was trying to tell me. I asked God to comfort me, to keep me warm, to send angels to surround me, then. I will learn to be content in the cold Ireland wind.

I knew what God was trying to teach me. This trip, I gave a lot of people a very miserable time because of how miserable I was. I was impatient, and I was hot tempered. I used my illness and my period hormones as an excuse. I was constantly asking God for help when I lost my temper. I said many mean things, but by the grace of God, I was able to bite my tongue and God stopped me from saying things that were even worse and more hurtful.

God was trying to show me - I was not ready. With a clear mind, probably, I would able to control my emotions more.

But with a sick mind, when the weather was too cold for me, when I was tired, God showed me that I was not ready to stand in the last days. My character was not ready yet for the Mark of the Beast. I had a long way more to go.

God was trying to show me - that I'm not ready. I need to be more like Jesus. I need to be able to be peaceful, patient, and loving even when my mind is sick, or tired. A good character needs to be the constant, the habit, the normal.

So, I thank God for bad trips. I thank God for the rain. :)