“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”
-Anatole France
I find myself in a weird transition right now. This time as I pack my bags and prepare to leave for a year, it is different. I am packing up everything I have ever owned and kept. I am taking down the decorations in my room and packing them in boxes. Although this will always be my room [as long as my parents live in this house] it is part of the transition of growing up. My room hasn’t really evolved much since I was in high school. When I graduated from high school I was 17 years old and ready to look at my small town in my rearview mirror, keep driving and not look back. I came home for short periods of time but never more than a month or two before I was gone again. The longest time I spent at home since graduation was actually right before the race and I was home for about 3 1/2 months. Since coming home from the race, I have been here for about 8 months (give or take a little because of travel). It has been strange but so easy to just fall into a routine. A few months ago I realized that although I graduated from college and have traveled the world my bedroom still reflected who I was when I left this house as a 17 year old girl with so much anticipation for the future. I made posters with bible verses and encouraging words on them and hung them around my bed when I was 16, they are still there 8 years later. One of my dressers has been in the same place since we moved in here 12 years ago.
In preparing to move to Georgia, like I said, I have been packing everything up. Going through things and throwing things away. I found things in my closet that have been there since I was in jr. high and things that make me feel like I was in high school yesterday. All my possessions in the world are in a few plastic totes and boxes and a couple pieces of luggage. Even when I lived in my own house, I hadn’t given up my room here. I had the things I needed at my house, but I had the things I knew and things that were comfortable here, at my home.
In the life I have chosen with all the changes in what I am doing or where I am going next, my home has always been constant, never-changing, comforting. That probably won’t change, but I am choosing to die to one life before I enter another. I cannot keep my life here and move forward into what the Lord is calling me into. So part of dying to this life is packing up everything and saying goodbye to the teenager bedroom I have been living in and getting on a plane and saying “YES” to what God is doing in my life.
My heartbeat in the next year is to come alongside others who are pressing in to what the Lord has called them to do and saying “YES” to what He is doing in their lives too. In about 39 hours I will be starting this new adventure when I get off a plane in Atlanta. Even though I am not going out of the country, what I will be doing is still a very important ministry. I look forward to sharing with you more about that after I am in Georgia.
I am still looking for financial supporters to help fund this journey. Even though it may not seem as radical as leaving the country for 11 months, it is still a radical experience in ministry and in my own personal journey with the Lord. He has promised provision and I am trying to stand on that as firmly as I can. Praise God, my first month has been covered!! But I need at least two months of support in my account to be able to start on Friday. That means I need $300 more by Friday. I trust that I have been called to this. If half of the people who read my last blog donated $35 one time, I would be fully funded for the whole year. I promise, nothing is too small. I am also looking for monthly supporters. I am actually looking for 8 monthly supporters to be exact. Pray about it and see if that is something the Lord is leading you to do.
I am so thankful for the support I have received so far and I am excited to see how God is gonna show up and blow my mind yet again. If you feel the Lord wants to use you to bless me. Hit up the “Support me for CGA” tab to the left. If you don’t know what CGA is or how I ended up deciding to go you can check out my last blog HERE.
My flight leaves on Wednesday at 1:35 p.m. and I am so ready to step into this new season!! I have a one way ticket and an excitement and an anticipation for what is next. Stick with me through the journey?
Much Love,
-A
