Family and friends,
I have been absent for a while. School has been busy, but I cannot complain. I am being challenged in my studies, health and beliefs in new ways and I am becoming stronger because of it all.
I have a little over a month before I graduate from the fine institution of The University of Georgia, and less than three months before I leave on this trip that will drastically change me. As time flies, I am continuously reminded to take it one day at a time and enjoy every minute of it — after all today is a day we will never get back.
I want this blog to be a place that I communicate with my loved ones of where I am, physically, mentally and spiritually, and what I am learning throughout my travels and experiences. Since I am still in the States and going through what I thought were such normal, mundane routines, I assumed it was not as important to blog about my daily happenings at a typical college with average American students. But, our Father is as much alive and active on this University’s campus as He is and will be in the villages of Uganda. He is also teaching me just as important lessons today, while I drive home in my nice SUV to my beautiful air-conditioned home with two loving parents who cannot wait to cook me homemade meals and shower me with love, as He will when I am eating rice and beans in my 2-person tent on the hard ground of a town in Cambodia.
So, I apologize for being silent for so long and I promise to give weekly updates on whatever is going on, however significant or insignificant I may think it is, and I will leave it up to you to read it or not. If anything just scroll to the bottom of my rants and pray for the things I list at the bottom, because your prayers are what I need most.
Tonight I got to spend some much-needed and treasured time with my parents just talking and laughing together. They did not expect me until tomorrow after my Friday class, so when I came loudly stomping down my basement steps, they were completely taken off-guard. I love how sappy my daddy gets when he has not seen me in awhile. You would have thought I had been gone for years the way he hugs me every time I come home. I will truly always be my “daddy’s little girl.”
My mother is no less of a sappy character; it seems in their empty-nester years they have become more emotional than I remember. Or maybe it is the fact that in less than three months they will give one daughter away in marriage and another to the world.
Needless-to-say, we did not need to be reminded to cherish our moments together. I have not been able to come home often this semester and so it was a sweet treat to be able to spend quality time with my parents.
I was pretty sick on Tuesday, so naturally, while I was laying in bed all day with the chills, I only wanted my mommy there beside me to scratch my back and sing me my favorite Norwegian lullaby. This made me even more homesick after not having been home for a full weekend in two months.
Two months. I spent two months in Spain last summer and that’s the longest I have ever been away from my parents and sister. We now all have permission to laugh at my decision to leave for 11 MONTHS! There are many times that I am walking to class or writing a tweet, when it suddenly hits me. "I am crazy!" And I just start to lose it and I cannot keep myself from laughing.
Talking to my family and closest friends, they will all agree that my screws have always been a little loose and my decisions usually never make perfect sense, but that’s the beauty in it all. The Lord is going to make some insane things happen that I could never make up and I am just honored that He has asked me to be a part of His plan. A plan that I may not see perfectly now, but it will all come together in His perfect timing.
I am not quite sure what I wanted to convey through this blog post or what you will get from it…but it is just a tid-bit of the constant wanderings of my thoughts and what I am going through in this beautiful process.
I ask that you please talk with Jesus about my specific prayer requests and we can all see just how He will unfold and answer each one. =)
• My mentor has been fighting cancer for the past 4 years and God has healed her over and over again and His glory has shone through this whole experience. Please thank Him for continuing to graciously shower her and all her loved ones with His peace, healing and power.
• I need to be reminded that He is in control and that money is not an issue for Him.
— Praise Him for helping me reach my May 5th goal already; He has provided $3,785.85 as of today, April 5, 2012. As Madea would say “HallelujYEERR!”
— Also a BIG thank you for the squad He has placed me on, the G Squad, and the continuous support we are able to provide each other through Him. Especially when we get discouraged about the financial aspect of this process, we need to be reminded that He resides in every part of this adventure, thank goodness! We need encouragement and to receive the funds in order to live out His Gospel.
— My next deadline is June 18 for $6,500 and I trust that He will provide this by the beginning of June.
• Also, I graduate in the next month, but to get there I need not only the endurance and motivation to finish strong in my studies, but to continue to put my time with God and His Word as my #1 priority, even before I open my Communications Law book.
If I can pray for you in any way, you can email me: [email protected].
Also, if you want to subscribe and get email notifications of when I update my blog, there is a “Subscribe” button on the left sidebar where the “Support Me” button is as well. If you feel led to support me financially it is as easy as clicking that button or sending a check to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
In the Subject line put: The World Race Meagan Kelley
