So I have been home for just about two months. What have I been doing? How has transitioning back home been? What have I learned?
As I sit here trying to figure out how to bring closure to these last 11 months I don’t really know what to write.
These 11 months were some of the greatest months of my life. I got to experience so many different cultures, do some crazy things, live in community with some of the greatest people I have ever met, and learn so much about myself and what God has planned for me.
And what is that plan you may ask? That’s a great question because I’m not even sure I can give you a complete answer. The plan seems to involve having lots of patience and taking one day at a time. As much as I would love to move to Canton to live around my college friends, I know God has called me to stay here in Holmes County. I’m still waiting to discover my purpose here but I know he has something great planned. And as much as I would love to be on my own, I know he is asking me to enjoy this time at home with my family.
I have found that it has been easy to fall back into the “normal” routine that I had before the World Race. But I also know that I don’t want that to be my normal routine anymore. It was hard for me coming back and realizing that things seemed the same and it seemed like I never left. But for me, I knew I left and I knew I changed, it was just a matter of how I was going to apply that change to life back home.
There have been frustrating moments where I want to get upset at people and tell them to be grateful for what they have because it could be so much worse; there are times I even have to tell myself that! I have to remind myself that this is what people know and to them it may be a big deal in their lives and that’s ok. I can’t be bitter towards people just because they don’t know better.
So these last two months have been a lot of thinking, reconnecting, processing, and busyness. I started working back at Walnut Creek Foods and I am working in the accounting department doing Accounts Payable. It’s an 8 hour desk job which is hard to transition to after travelling for 11 months. It’s where I know I am supposed to be right now even if it is not exactly what I want to be doing. I see it as another transition period, whether it is a 1 year transition period or a five year transition period. Who knows?! I don’t know if this is where God has me for the rest of my life. So I’m choosing to embrace the challenges he has placed before me here in Holmes County to help me figure out where I need to be.
Speaking of challenges, I have taken on the task of teaching 7th and 8th graders on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. I never thought I would ever want to teach that age group because honestly some of them can be intimidating, especially when they just stare at you with a scowl on their face or a blank stare. However, the opportunity presented itself and I knew it would be uncomfortable so I decided to do it. I also knew I wanted to get involved in my church and this seemed to be one way I could do that. Now more than ever, I have realized how important it is to invest in your church. Church isn’t just some place you go on Sunday mornings to hear about God and then you get on with your week and show up again on Sunday. Your church family is your greatest family. Every person can be involved in their church in some way, whether it is mentoring someone younger than you, teaching Sunday school, being accountable to someone, participating in a Bible study, being an encouragement to your leadership team, or singing in the worship band. There is something for EVERYONE in the church, whether big or small. Every generation in the church needs to be involved. We have made ourselves so busy or have decided that we have served long enough that church is on the back burner and is sometimes an afterthought. Why? What is happening that our desire to serve has dwindled down to almost nothing? Where is the fire? Since when are we able to stop serving and being involved in our church? I thought this was a life-long commitment.
I know I’m even preaching to myself right now. I didn’t necessarily have a HUGE desire to teach middle school, but I knew that it would be the challenge that I needed and it would take me out of my comfort zone that I had been in for the last 23 years of my life. It’s a matter of choice. It’s a matter of deciding that you don’t want to be comfortable anymore and that you want to choose to trust God and trust that he is going to help you however you decide to serve. I can’t make you get involved in church. I can’t make you serve people in some way. You have to decide that you want to take a step, or a leap, out of your comfort zone. My prayer coming back to America was and is that God would rip people out of their comfort zones and open their eyes to the many possibilities that he has for them right in their own church and community. He’s waiting; waiting for us to break apart the box that we have put him in.
So I guess I’ll get off of my preaching horse right now and conclude with saying that travelling the world is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made and if you ever have the opportunity then do it. It will change your life, your perspective, and your desires.
God has changed me.
He has challenged me.
He has taught me patience.
He has taught me how to love.
He has given me a new perspective.
He has taught me how to be uncomfortable in the place where I feel the most comfortable.
I’ll leave you with these verses that have gotten me excited to see what God all has planned.
Isaiah 55: 10-12
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will BURST into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
