psalm for Field Methods.

"Blessed be the LORD, my rock, 

who trains my hands for war, 

and my fingers for battle; 

He is my steadfast love and my fortress, 

my stronghold and my deliverer, 

my shield and He in whom I take refuge, 

who subdues peoples under me."

Psalm 144:1-2

Every week I am meditating on God and choosing one aspect of who He is from this psalm to focus on, to keep my eyes fixed on Him as I tackle this intense two-month class. Field Methods is applying all that I have learned from this past semester to a real minority language, one that I spent two months learning from April to June. With my good friend Brigid, I am attending language sessions, entering data into amazing linguistic software, researching anything that has been written about the language, analyzing the phonology and grammar of the language, and writing up papers every other day on our analysis. The language we are studying is Fe'fe', a language of western Cameroon in West Africa. 

Already, God has shown Himself to be my Rock, my Steadfast Love, and my Fortress. I am learning to let go of perfectionism and embrace ambiguity. I am learning to be content with making decisions, even if they are wrong, and writing explanations to things we are quite certain we cannot explain. 

Fe'fe' is fascinating, and there are an innumerable amount of mysteries and puzzles to be discovered and unlocked. In fact, missionaries and linguistics who spend thirty years learning and studying a language never learn all the answers! And we are only taking about sixty days to do the same thing!

Though these two months are full of uncertainty for me, there is One who walks with me who remains forever the same. And He is the One who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. He opens my ears to hear new sounds I have not heard, moves my mouth to mimic these new sounds, teaches my hands to transcribe in a new phonetic alphabet, fills me with patience as I enter data into a computer program, emboldens me to choose an analysis, and guides my heart to cling to Him.

***

My Fortress, I run deeper into You today. Help me to be strong in Your power, for I have none of my own. Thank you that no one and nothing can separate me from Your love. I hold tight to You.