Well, here I am again, getting ready to leave my second to last country. I’ve been all over the world and leaving doesn’t get any better. It actually gets worse because I know what is to come.
Colombia has been my favorite country. I have made the best of friends with people and I can actually see myself living here, but it’s not fair sometimes. I hate the phrase, “some people are just meant to be friends for a season.” That’s just not in my vocab. If I feel connected with you, I want to be your friend for a lifetime. Yes, absolutely prayer keeps us in touch, and now we have all the social media to help with communication, but it’s just not the same.
My heart has completely changed for people and relationships. I honestly didn’t think I would fall in love with so many people and so many places. I thought I would be content with coming, doing my job, then leaving. But that is so far from the truth. My heart breaks when I make connections with people and only get to be with them for a couple weeks.
The truth of the matter is, Jesus is everywhere. And whether you feel Him through relationships, like me, or through healing or through music or through all of them, He is there. Relationships should be this simple.
It should be simple to give your heart to a friend and for them to give you theirs. It should be simple to love and to receive love. Love is simple. Love is kind. Love is gentle. Love is open. There is so much love in my heart for Colombia. For this ministry, for my new best friends, Paola, Daniela, and my new church friends at Huellas Sin Dolor.
Leaving is the worst part about traveling, but if I didn’t love with all I have, I would never know what true love is. Maybe that’s what God feels about us. If we don’t invite Him in to feel the fullness of his love for us, do we truly even know what love is? Will we be able to give love if we don’t know the fullness of how to be loved? Maybe we do have friends for a season on this earth, but I sure as heck will be seeing these people in heaven for a lifetime, and I’m ecstatic about that.
I think I wrote a very similar blog in the beginning of the race while I was in the Philippines. Here I am, at the end of the race talking about the same thing. I love relationships. I love getting to love people and receiving love. It’s the greatest lesson I’ve learned on the race and the greatest lesson I will learn in life. It takes more energy to hurt people and to be closed off than it does to be real and love people. Just love. Simple as that!
