So I think I decided it was about time that I owe you all a blog update, I’m sure if you are social media bugs you have been swarmed with pictures from my time in Ecuador and then more recently my graduation from college (sorry ’bout it), but pictures can only tell so much of a story.
So here’s what the last three weeks of my life have looked like, with words.
[Re-wind three weeks ago.]
I was sitting on a beach in Ecuador. The hostal my group was staying at was about a ten step walk from the white sand of the beach we were staying on. This trips sole intention was to retreat away from where we had been living the past 3.5 months and go to a place where there were no expectations, no time restraints, no schedules, or plans for 4 days. Our only job was to begin processing through our semester and to enjoy the last few days we had with the people I now call family.
Processing was the favorite word of our group that week. “How are you processing going home?” “Have you processed your trip yet?” “Have you processed through graduation yet?” I was pretty much a process virgin up until this point, because I didn’t know processing was such a PROCESS.
I also realized that my personality has always been one of spontaneity. I deal with things when they happen and I am always impulsive in my decisions, but I truly didn’t know how to begin preparing my heart to leave a place I had come to love so much, to go home to a place I felt like I didn’t know anymore, and then five days later, to graduate college. This was all so overwhelming.
But through conversation with friends in my group, debrief sessions with Bryan Cole, morning devotions, and time well spent with Jesus, I realized the most beautiful truth to this all.
Nothing in the world is constant, not ONE thing. But Jesus, who is not from this world (praise) is our only constant. He is with us wherever we go. And that was a saying that was so cliche’ to me until I had gone somewhere and fallen in love with people from that place that I realized I might never see again in my lifetime on earth. I also realized that we can’t have expectations of anything in life. As people we fall and unfortunately let each other down, we can’t always keep promises, we can’t make everyone happy, but the Father invites us to have high expectations of Him. He invites us to pray, crazy & even IMPOSSIBLE prayers, because He is the King of conquering the impossible.
” But Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible“. Matthew 19:26
In Isaiah 55:11 we are reminded that the Lord’s Word and promises can’t come back void, ” So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it”.
So not one promise the Lord has spoken over our lives can come back void, it cannot return to Him empty, it must be fulfilled! That is a promise I am willing to waste the rest of my life pursuing.
And so the beach debrief came and went, just like everything else that semester, and before we knew it we were waking up at 2 in the morning on May 17 to board our first of two planes to get us back to the United States. A lot of tears, hugs, kisses, and i love you’s took place and then we were off. One step closer to my home of 21 years, that suddenly began feeling like a foreign place.
I had a little less than a week to soak up my Trinity community and friends before I said goodbye, for good this time. God is so good to give me a community back home that has been nothing but encouraging andn wonderful at helping me with my re-entry process.
[Fast forward to today]
I am officially a college graduate. Wow. That will take awhile to sink in.
In a little over three months I am boarding another plane to leave for 11 months this time to travel and do missionary work through Adventures in Missions.
I am living at home this summer, continuing to grow in community, spend time with family, and enjoy a season of rest before I am sent off again.
Ultimately, God is good. I don’t know what this season is going to hold before I leave, and I definately don’t know how Jesus is going to work in me and through me while on the field. But I keep fighting the good fight of faith, because He is worth it. With all of this being said, most of you who know me, know that I love talking about stuff like this more face-to-face and since I have a pretty relaxed summer please send me an email, text, facebook message, and let’s get together for coffee and talk about the wonderful things of Jesus!
Thank you all for your prayerful support while I was in Ecuador, you don’t even know how much those prayers meant. Thank you for those who have been financially supporting me, Jesus has been providing in amazing ways and I am so blessed by each of you! So thank you, thank you, thank you.
God bless.
