Have you ever been in a situation where you are so excited for that season to end and the next one is right there. It is so close you can taste it and feel it. But you have to stay grounded and CONTENT with you are at at this very moment. Well that is how I am feeling now.
A lot of times these last few weeks (ok more like months) I have been in this exact situation. I am still living life in Korea. Things over the last month have gotten so much better in regards to community and my life that I have been missing since I got here. I feel like God is granting my one wish since I landed 10 months and 4 days ago.
You see I have been on the struggle bus of learning to live and be on my very own in a foreign country where I can’t speak, read, or even understand the local language. I am surrounded by it everywhere in everything. If I am brutally honest, it has been something that has been consuming me. But as 2015 was drawing to a close and 2016 was looming in the distance I was praying and asking God for a word to use and move through me this year. The word I felt he was giving me was Content. Wow, God was asking me to be content in the very situation that was bringing me to the brink of wanting to pack up my life and move back home.
But, what would I move back too? I sold my car. (to a very dear friend who needed it WAY more than I did) I gave away most of all my things. (the last hours before I boarded my plane were spent with great friends and me throwing things out of my suitcase. I have no clue what exactly I have in America) I don’t have a house much less a job. What would I have done if I would have caved and moved home. I would have lost out on a lot of money and a lot of learning.
I have lost friends since moving to Korea. I have gained friends since moving. I have strengthened one friendship, that if you would have told either of us that we would be extremely close while living on opposite sides of the world we both would have laughed and said not possible. It has been VERY lonely for a lot of the time I have been here.
BUT since January, I have grown a lot of friendships. I have gained a life long friend who is so completely opposite of everything in me, yet we get along so great. She does not have the same beliefs as me nor pull for the same teams as me (go Cowboys!!) yet we have this underlying belief in doing the right thing. (whatever that may pertain to at the time). Its a beautiful friendship that I would not trade for the world. She is why I was supposed to be here.
I have made new friends at work as we have gained 3 new native English teachers 2 weeks ago. My weekends have not been the same since they arrived. I have a new pastor at church. He is Korean American, but understands my sarcasm and sense of humor. These friendships are coming on the tail end of my journey here.
You see I have been trying to tell time to hurry up over the past month. Dreaming and thinking and praying and talking about the World Race excites me. I have a longing to see the people I am supposed to meet and love on in each of the countries on my route. I have a deep deep longing for the bonds and family that I will gain from meeting and living with my squad. We are going to be experiencing things beyond my wildest dreams together and we can share those for a lifetime. I am dreaming about the day I am back in America and at training camp meeting the people I have been praying for and longing to be a part of a community for about a year and half. (I have been praying for a community since May 2015). I am not in America yet, I am not about to Launch.
I am living my life in Korea. I need to be present in the here and now. God tells us not to worry about tomorrow as He has that under control. We need to focus about the present, as it is a gift. It is very hard for me to focus and be content in this season of my life. My next season will be a life changing one, as this one has been, but today I am reminded to be content. It is hard, but I know that I have a lot to learn still before I leave Korea. My time is not up yet.
I am still preparing to not only return to America but to return and then head out to 11 different countries. This time I will not be alone, I will be on a squad of 50-60 people. I will be with other believers, I will be with people who speak my language as we enter places that do not speak our language. I will have the knowledge I gained while in Korea to be able to make it through another year abroad.
As I am gearing up for a new season ahead, please be in prayer for me to value and be content in the season God has for me right now. Pray that I can be healed from sickness, that I can start getting things together for my race, that my funding goes at the speed God wills and that I do not get pulled into Satan’s lies. That I can not hurry up and wait.
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*Thank you to those who have already come along side of me on this awesome journey. Thank you to those who have donated, and subscribed and are partnering with me in Prayer.
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“AND YOU SHOW THAT YOU ARE A LETTER FROM CHRIST DELIVERED BY US, WRITTEN NOT WITH INK, BUT WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, NOT ON TABLETS OF STONE BUT ON TABLETS OF HUMAN HEARTS. ” 2 CORINTHIANS 3:3 ESV
