Hello all my friends! I've been a little silent the past couple weeks on my blog site. It's time to fill you in on a few changes through my transition back home. My intention coming home was to head up to Northern Michigan to find a job and pay off all of my debts and get some rest. However, while I sometimes make my plans, He establishes my footsteps. If you haven't guessed by this point, I'm going to be heading out again…soon!
The last few months has honestly taken a toll on my body in a number of different ways. Silence was a golden luxury as was cleanliness and a hot shower. India has about a billion people and I may have been touched by them all in the past few months 🙂 Needless to say, it's been awhile since I had the luxury of personal space and I was really looking forward to some more of it. My hope was to come back and get some rest because emotionally and physically I was pretty tired. Instead, I had a whirlwind of some opportunities presented to me within days if not hours of returning home.
At first breath I was going to simply bow out for this round and get a "breather" when it comes to going overseas. I knew my body wasn't completely right because I had been pooping blood every other week for almost 4 months, my energy was low and I had a bit of a heart incident in Nepal. Since being back I've gone to the doctor who had a ridiculous machine that recognized a lot of stuff that I had in my system. I was actually really blown away the accuracy as it verified that I had taranchala in me (from 3 yrs ago), Malaysian Viper Venom, Hong Kong Flu, etc…Most of what I had was minor stuff that was just at unnatural levels and that was putting added stress to my body and immune system. However, I also found out that I had some flukes in my lungs, bloodstream and muscles…These are more serious and affect a number of things going on inside of me. It'll be awhile before those get completely taken care of.
Regardless, I decided to pray about the opportunities and just see what God thought about it all. I spent a couple days pretty reclusively thinking and listening. At the end of it I had peace that I was supposed to go even though that added a torrent of conflicting emotions. Proverbs talks about how hope deferred makes the heart sick and for the first time in years I was actually hoping to stay in one place for an extended period of time AND knew where I wanted to be…yet that will have to wait. I had emotions and thoughts running through me as I was processing what just happened in the past 4 months of my life and the realization that I have to start planning to head out NOW because I'll be gone before you know it…All in all, it made me want to spend a few more days under the radar to try to battle through the thoughts and emotions.
I know many of you have been waiting to get in touch with me until I got back and I know I haven't been the best at getting back to each of you promptly. Thank you for your patience with me. I've been trying to balance staying in contact with people and getting away to rest and recharge and renew before taking off once again.
The past few days have been really restorative to me. He's been helping me get over a bit of that heart sickness of waiting and helping me focus in on what's in front of me. I've been praying for my team and looking over some of their interview information and my heart is starting to be moved for them. By being able to engage with who they are and a bit of where they're at, it's bringing a bit more purpose and direction to what my next months will look like as I co-lead a group of 20 college age young adults into the jungles of Peru.
I'll get you some more details on that soon and if you have any questions or thoughts please get a hold of me. Likewise if you're interested in helping with the financial side of things, I'd love to share with you what my situation is. Honestly though more than anything I'm in need of your prayers for both now (rest and rejuvination) and through the summer (wisdom, discernment and that I'd have the Father's heart).
I head out in just over a week!
