A Journal Entry:
date: 1 September 2014
location: somewhere over the Indian Ocean, seat 17A
I am currently sitting in seat 17A (yay for window seats) on an Air India (now a member of Star Alliance) flight somewhere over the Indian Ocean between Yangon and Bangkok.
I open the window and see endless clouds and the prettiest clouds, and I feel SO small.
It reminds me a little of home in the fact I can see for kilometers and kilometers (#metricsystem.) I’ve been reflecting back on the past 2 months or really since Training Camp in May when this whirlwind life began.
In May, I met 40+ strangers at a campground outside if Atlanta, Georgia. Since then we have left school, jobs, friends, family and life as we know it. Our lives now include traveling to foreign countries every month to minister to others.
‘Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and love the unloved.’
This is our life – this is MY life, a crazy adventure God called me to – and surprising even myself- I said ‘yes’ to the Call.
We are about to start Month 3, our teams are in different regions of Thailand doing different ministries. This will be quite the change from all 40+ of us sharing a building, bathrooms, 2 meals a day and internet. I have a vague idea of our ministry this month, but I am really trying to have no expectations so I can be flexible and allow God to use me.
Even re-reading that last sentence, I wonder who I am. Me, from a small town (shoutout Muleshoe, TX), who went to college less than 60 miles from home (#waylandbaptist), who always had at least 2 jobs, who knew where she would sleep at night, what was expected at work, etc. Right now I have a GENERAL idea of plans, but it’s nothing solid and I am oddly calm.
There are still walls God and I are working on, but over the past two months some are starting to slip away. Just after two months, this is happening even though I spent years- YEARS building them, fixing them with duct tape, re-in forcing with rebar and other materials.
I do not know God’s life-long plan for me, I am not even sure what He will ask me to do this month. All I know is He is in control, I can sleep at night knowing this, I don’t worry (as much) what tomorrow will bring because I know I don’t face it alone. I have my team and my God with me here and tons of people whom I love back home praying for me.
God told Abraham his descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. I encourage you to drive out to a dark, quiet place and look up at the millions of stars God places in the sky. He places those stars exactly where He wants them, just as He placed us where we are supposed to be.
The past few months I have joked that God has provided breezes just for me. Growing up in west Texas- I know wind. Over the years I have come to embrace it instead of hate it. We don’t know where the wind comes from, it constantly moves and we have no control over it. I know it is God, letting me know He is always there for me (sometimes I need more reminders than others.) Next time you face a blowing wind, take time to thank God for His ‘hug.’
It is nighttime now, I can see tiny dots of lights that make up cities and towns. As I look down on these tiny dots, I know I am truly blessed to play a small role in God’s much bigger picture.
