One month. I only have 30 more days of seeing this family everyday. Strangers who became family before I even met them in person, because we had one thing in common – our Father.
My biggest fear in returning home is forgetting, forgetting all that God has done. I could list everything, but there’s not enough time; the words wouldn’t even be comparable.
Just a few include:
- Fishing with my Uncle Inn in Thailand
- Providing and playing volleyball in Cambodia
- Houng and Banele – our WRExposure squadmates
- Our sweet host in Vietnam, Mimi
- Months of lice checks
- The school and kids in China
- The AMAZING skies in Africa, being able to see the Milky Way and my southern heart constellation almost very night
- My name is Baboon in Swaziland
- The prison ministry in Leostho
- Living in a hut at Thuthukani Maswazi in South Africa
- Dancing at the park in with my Nicaraguan family
- Laughing with my grandpa in Guatemala, Lino aka Mr. Meow
- Meeting random people throughout each country by God’s divine appointments
- Strangers becoming family within a few short days
- Gaining a new name in each country
- Gaining family in each country
My squad and I have all different experiences in each country, but we all share the same love, same passion throughout each. God has broken each of us and has been molding us into who He desires us to be, and I’ve gotten to stand along side each of them.
This family has seen me at my worst and my best. They’ve sat with me while I cried, while I praised God, and while I loved people. They’ve seen it all. They’ve seen my 10-month transformation.
It is hard not to have the expectation that each person who hears about my race will understand. Yes they may understand a little, but they were not there. They haven’t seen the AMAZING things, or the poverty, or the things that are hard to form words around.
I’m constantly asking God to engrain in my heart, my whole self, the things I’ve seen this year, so I can constantly remind myself this year was real. Although it was the fastest challenging year yet, it was the best year.
One thing I know for sure – my heart will never be in one place again, with my family in Illinois. Now it is in each place I have gone; it’s in multiple countries and multiple states. My heart is scattered in many places, because of our God’s love, and for that I’m eternally blessed.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
John 14:26
