I have been trying to figure out how to relay my feelings of returning back to a land that I call home. It is a land where I can trust most food that comes out of a restaurant, where there is WiFi somewhere in a 1-mile radius, and where my parents' water heater has the potential to give me a first-degree burn if I'm not careful. It's all too unfamiliar, really. Ways of living that I have grown accustomed to are no longer ways in which I have to live and I find myself missing the lack of electricity or the lack of choices.
Oh, the simplicity. The simplicity where we would sit in the living room on so called "couches" (which were really wooden benches with a pad on it) and play cards for hours at a time while there's a gushing downpour of rain outside.
Where the only comfort food I could buy in some places was a Coca-Cola and an old chocolate bar that had been sitting on the shelf too long.
Where I could mention the name of Jesus and not be looked at like I was weird.
Where in order to get relief from the cold weather, I would place my feet on the fireplace that we had to keep running in place of a real heater that most American households offer.
Where at night it would still be so hot that I would have to go dunk my head in water before being able to go to sleep on the concrete floor with nothing but a 2" thick sleeping pad. (I don't miss that country)
Simplicity is how I've been living for 11 months and now I suddenly find myself in a country where things aren't as simple as they were on the race.
However, as much as this is a readjusting process, my Father is good.
Some days are hard and I miss my teammates and squadmates being around, but I know that in this season, the Lord has new relationships in store for me to form along with replenishing and strengthening old relationships.
He is still waiting for me to continue showing up for my life! He still has plenty of things for me to do and ministry isn't up just because I don't have a set schedule of things to do or places to be.
The race is over though.
And it's a hard concept to believe that all the time and effort that I put into an 11-month journey has now come to its end.
But one thing I am thankful for is that my God is adventurous and I choose to head into a new adventure with Him.
I'm here, America! Whatchu got for me?
