Family & Friends (that's ALL of you!),
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me and supported me throughout this journey. I don't know if I'd be this far without you! Thank you to everyone who has followed my blogs and shared in my excitement. Thank you for all of the help filling in the details like packing and shots. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you, to all the anonymous donors who have gotten me to my launch day. Since I can't thank you in person, THANK YOU! You've truly changed lives in the Kingdom by blessing others with the money God has given you on this earth.
Before I step on the plane, let's recap real quick.
Two weeks ago, it hit.
THIS IS REAL.
This week, I said goodbye.
It's a funny feeling meeting a moment face to face that you've only dreamed of in the past. Nothing is ever quite like you imagine because your mind can't fill in all those unexpected little details. Well it's been better than I imagined for this reason, IT'S REAL.
Saying goodbye was hard. I pretty much had my moment of crying in front of everyone at Bible study and seemed to get most of it out. I kind of reached a point where there was nothing left to say, although if you pressed me I could dig up plenty. Know that you've all made much more of an impact in my life than you think, and I treasure every friendship.
I took my time and smelled the roses…the buildings…the whatever there was. I had one day this week where I would just pause and soak in my surroundings, making a cinema worthy memory. It was cool. But eventually I started to ware out. Making the most of every last became exhausting. I am thankful, and will look back so fondly on all I had here in Arizona. But you can't walk forward if you're looking backwards; and the time has come.
I'm ready. REALLY.
Ready as I'll ever be. How can you really be ready for something like this? Leaving your job, your school, your home, your friends, your family, your favorite grocery store… Safety. Security. Control. Familiarity. Consistency. As I'm beginning to feel the impact of leaving, it hit me, this is gonna be HARD! Good. Just because something is hard does not make it bad or wrong. I learned that this week, among many other things. Most importantly I remembered this in the moments where it counted: HE is WORTH IT.
What else is there to say?
Plenty.
But it's time to move forward. You can't stop the seasons changing.
EXPECTATIONS
Oh this is a big one. What do I expect?
I've gotta say, thought they warned us not to, I have a lot of expectations. I think that most of them are realistic though. I guess we'll find out.
I expect weird food. I expect to sleep in even more awkward and uncomfortable places than I did even at training camp. I expect to be pushed to my limits. I expect to experience a whole lot of NEW. I expect to see God's hand at work in ways that will utterly blow my mind. I expect to experience God's love truer than ever before. I expect to love hardcore. To break. To LIVE. And to become more MYSELF.
There you have it. My grand speech. In the end it doesn't really matter what I say, it matters what God has done. This year isn't even about me. I'm blessed beyond all measure to live for a God who is so GREAT. Who's name is LOVE. My aim is only to love HIM, and to love all of YOU.
Remember me. Pray for me. Expect God to do big things.
Missing you already,
Leah <3
