I’m laying in an actual bed with four posts holding up the typical white mosquito net that encelops it like a lid to a neatly boxed package or the fitted sheet on a made up bed you can bounce a quarter on. There’s an old song playing in my left ear whose name has escaped me and I can hear laughter every now and then down the hall from the lips of the mzungus I call my family. As the thoughts come and go I lift my eyes to look out an open window that offers no escaping breeze from the African heat and the white wall staring back at me seems worn down by the mugginess itself, offering no stories to whisper in my ear.
This is one of my last days in Africa. I am no longer walking along the dusty red dirt streets of Busia where I spent my month assuring the million children who called out to me that I was indeed “fine.” I am no longer sharing the only twin sized bed in a square room full of six women and one red couch with a pattern that always reminded me of an owl that probably wondered how the heck we all fit in there.
This month was hard and challenging and frustrating and unlike any month I have ever had.
And yet as I lay here in a bed four hours away from that town I know my heart is lighter. I can feel the laughter begin to rise up inside of me as my thoughts rest on all the moments I didn’t think were full of joy. I thank Papa for my team that has remained unified throughout all the ups and down and trials we faced. I thank Him for the daycation to Sipi Falls to see His glorious creation and experience the type of adventure that speaks to the free spirit inside of me, to show me more of this land that I love so stinking much. I laugh at the thought of brownies in Jinja and hot showers at Adrift that always make me happy. I thank my Daddy for the lost boys we ministered to and the ways in which He always shows up and I fall more in love with Jesus with the slightest thought of how He sweeps me off my feet. I thank Him for opportunities to fight for my family and stand firm in my beliefs and convictions regardless of the outcome, for the the chance to be rebuked and not back down, the privilege to stand as the daughter I am and to choose respect regardless of any contrary belief.
I grew a lot. It has been one of the few times over the course of this race that I have seen a difference from the me I was before the race and the woman I am right now and although they were not always fun realizations, I know that they were good.
In a couple days we head to Thailand to start our last four months of the race. Time is going by so quickly and yet I know I am still so far from home, that there is still so much more in store for me.
Pray for rest and strength and more of the wonderful God and Son and Holy Spirit to fill my life.
