When the
race started I knew I would get a quick lesson on being flexible. Which was
hard for me because I enjoy structure. I enjoy knowing when and how things will
happen. The first 5 months taught me about being flexible. And I grew a lot. In
fact I thought I had it down to an art. I had given up that control to God and
was fine with not knowing exactly when and how something would happen. Then I
was sent to Africa.
In
Africa the word Fluid was introduced to
my vocabulary. I was being asked to be fluid. Now you might be asking yourself,
“What is the difference between being flexible and being fluid?” A tree branch is flexible, but at some
point in time it breaks. A drop of water that creates a ripple in the middle of
a pond is fluid because it usually never breaks.
Being
fluid is a whole new level of control that God wants me to give up to Him. I
had no idea that there was another level. I thought I had it all down. I
thought I knew how to give my plans over to Him and how to rely on His timing
for things. Then Africa happened. Nothing in Africa is as it seems. If you are
told that your ride will show up at noon, don’t plan on it being there until
late afternoon. If you are told that you will go to the hospital to pray at 4pm
don’t plan on going at all. Things just happen, or don’t happen at all, on a
different timetable in Africa.
God is teaching me that I need to give Him control of every single
little detail of my life. I need to let Him decide when I will or will not do
something and for me that is hard. I like to have a schedule and not having one
this past month drove me nuts, but it is also driving me to depend on Him that
much more. The next 2 months here in Africa are going to be very challenging
for me but I am excited to see what my life looks like on this new level.
