As I come down to the last couple of days before my trip, I want to make sure I document how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. Besides doing my “before leaving for overseas rituals” of eating all of my beloved American foods in ridiculous quantities, enjoying long, hot showers, getting joy out of flushing toilet paper, and trying to see every person I’ve ever known before I leave for a year, I’m doing pretty well. I expected to be an emotional roller-coaster with yet another transition coming and to be nervous with anticipation over a new chapter in life. While I have experienced some of that over the last few weeks, I have right one basic feeling about what is coming: Peace.
I know that is the Holy Spirit in me, confirming His path in my life. There is no other explanation. If I didn’t have that peace from Christ, I would think that living in 11 different countries in 11 months with just a tent in a backpack was crazy…but right now, it makes the most sense in the world. “Reckless Abandon” because that is a phrase that Oswald Chambers preached throughout his ministry and it characterized full surrender to Christ. Being what appeared to be “reckless” in the eyes of others to be abandoned to God’s perfect will. There is no fear in this because God’s will is formed from His perfect love (1 John 4:18). Chambers writes,
“In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us,
without any calculation. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our
outlook because our life is taken up with him.”
That is how I want to live. Whether I’m living in a tent in Uganda or an apartment in Costa Rica, or a house in Ohio. God asks us each to fulfill a purpose in a different way. It just requires an attitude of willingness. So I’m just excited. Excited about new cutlures, new experiences, new foods, new ministry, and most of all new insights that will teach me about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’m so thankful for those of you that will be following me on my journey. I will be posting stories, pictures, and comments about life around the world and how God is working. I’m sure there will also be a great assortment of ridiculous situations I get myself into over the next year, and I will most definitely relay those to you all :). I will be praying that as I abandon myself to Christ, that you would be doing the same wherever you are- making a difference where God has you. Love to live and live to love 🙂
