God is the coolest.
If you don’t know Him or if you’ve grown up thinking that He’s just super serious & all He cares about is whether or not we do what’s right, than let me introduce you to another side of Him.
We were made in His image (check out Genesis 1:26&27) so that means that we get some of His characteristics. I can be very serious but I also LOVE to be goofy & I think that comes from Him. The Bible talks a lot about joy & that doesn’t mean everything is sunshine & daisies, but it does mean that it’s something God wants us to have, which is pretty awesome. In fact, He’s the source of our joy — pretty cool.
You may have read part 1 of “Don’t Make Me Go” when I shared how difficult it was to leave the Golas family & their awesome ghetto ministry. Then I had to say goodbye to my Momma & then the week following that was also quite difficult.
We had squad debrief in Brasov & one of the original puppy pack members had to leave the race permanently, which broke my heart. We had team changes & I got put on an all girls team :/ I also was freaked out all week that the bed bugs that had bitten the crap out of my arms at the last hostel had followed me to Brasov. & finally, it was confirmed that my Race BFF — also one of the original puppies — was not returning from her trip home to see her dying great grandmother. I had to finish the race without her. It was just a lot of heartache at one time.
So you can imagine that week being kind of rough — there were tears. Lots, in fact. One of the biggest upsets in all of it was that I was now stuck with a team of all girls for the remainder of the race. Girls — bleh. I know…I’m a girl. & sure — my first team was all girls & it was fantastic — but the puppy pack had an unusually amazing bond that really was just an outstanding blessing. Now I had to live with more estrogen than anyone should have to deal with. Boo.
Now I can see how ridiculous I was being…God has always taken care of me & of course He could make my Race end on a high note despite the bummer events. I should have been thankful for the time I did have with my former teammates — that they were worth being so sad over because we had been so close. I should have been celebrating being bed bug free! But instead I just felt sorry for myself.
I feel like God — being my Father & the Provider of all good things in my life — would have totally been within His rights to kick me in the butt at this point. But He didn’t. Instead He was gentle & He gave me a really beautiful gift.
On my last full day in Romania, He brought a surprise: the Golas family came to Brasov.
Whaaaaat?!?!
Sometimes when you meet someone & really hit it off, you say goodbye & you both say that you’ll miss each other & hope to see each other again, but you’re not really sure if the other person means it. Do they love you? Will they actually miss you? Do they want to see you again?
My heart was in such a tender place at this time & that’s when God let this family I love so much answer this question. Yes. Yes they did feel the same way & they proved it by coming to Brasov to spend time with our team.
The truth is that we did practically nothing that day, but it was a seriously wonderful time. The whole family was there minus Alexandra the BFF (who we missed big time!) & we were thrilled to get to just be together. We mostly sat outside & chatted. The boys worked tirelessly most of the day trying to catch a pigeon in the square…
They were eventually successful 😀
& the girls just talked. I couldn’t tell you what about but it was perfect. It was truly a gift — a hug from God.
We did try to walk to the narrowest street in Europe, but it was closed for some reason, so Bianca & I shoved our feet under the door just enough to say that we’d stepped onto that street 🙂 We ate good food & ended by celebrating Cristi & Florina’s birthdays with ice cream — it was perfect.
The first blog was called “Don’t Make Me Go” because I didn’t feel ready — but I do now. Now I feel so loved by God & so secure in my friendship with this awesome family who I can’t wait to see again some day. & I’m pretty sure now that I will see them again — I’m praying about it 😉
Anyways, I know I had already written about them but I just needed you to know that my heart is okay now & that I am full of hope for the future. God’s got my back & we’ll keep going forward together. Let me go — I’m ready for Africa 😀
