In 3 days, the reality of heading home will hit me with a ton of bricks. I have been preparing for home and all that home brings for the last few weeks now, getting ready to say goodbye and transition and well its going to be hard.
It is healthy to mourn the things that we lose and the changing of the seasons. When a mother says goodbye to her child heading to collage. When a father gives his baby girl away to her husband, these are things to rejoice in but it comes with a goodbye to what was and a new season.
I have a family. I have a family of 6 that I spent everyday with for the most part for 11 months. It was not like I could escape them. We did ministry all day together, and then we ate together, slept in the same rooms at times, shared everything. We are family. It was deeper than team. It was deeper than friends. It was a community of people that saw my greatest moments and my worst. It was a family that intentionally spent time helping to build up my strengths, helping me through my plain out nastiness at times and loving me unconditionally even when it wasn’t convenient for them. And I them.
And then I have another family, in the other 46 or so people that shared this with me, not maybe on a day to day, but we went through it together and we grew to love each other so much. I poured into these people and went deep with this people. i was vulnerable more with them than I think I had the ability to do before.
I was taught about being the body this year. When a part of my body was broke I felt it. When we came together to worship and be one, we came alive to our fullest. Life radically changed for me. My concept of the church and being the body have radically shifted for me. We had to turn to others, we had to die to our selfishness, we had to invest way more into our relationships than ever before. God showed us what it meant to stop and care more about the one in front of you then the millions of things you may want to our might “have” to be doing.
In 3 days I am going home to people I love, and who love me. People who knew me last year, and still know me, but not the new me. It is hard. It is hard to leave behind community living and being used to sharing an apartment with 12 other people for a month. It will be hard to have a job again where your not working along side family, but strangers, who you may love you, or may not even care to remember your name. It will be weird to have to pay bills and rent again and adjust to the heavy expenses of home life. It will be hard to not wake up and be serving God as your daily “job”.
But with that, I have learned that this is all just geography. The race doesn’t end for me just because I am home. Ministry is daily whether I am a waitress or a missionary. It’s a state of being the body. I can serve the Lord in serving coffee. It is making the most of the moments that He gives me.
And I am excited. I am excited for those of you who I love for us to go deeper and be more intentional. I am excited to encourage you, love on you and pray with you. I am excited to help see your dreams come true, and spur you on in them. I am excited for the times where I have to be humbled by you and what you might have to say, and times where I may be sharpening you.
I know it will be different. I know there are things I may say and do that are new ism’s of Mel and you might think why did she just tell me to “choose in?” Or what the heck is she laughing at? You might not understand why I might just randomly giggle over the simple things you may take for granted. Though ending in Europe has helped me adjust to hot water showers, but it is still a huge blessing each time I step into that stall. But I assure you it’s still me. And trust me people when i say to you, that I will answer all your questions about me and my year, but know also that your lives changed too, you grew as well and life happened just like it did for me and I need your stories and your experiences as well. They were no better or worse, just different.
I know you may be wondering what I will do next after the race and things are in the works for AIM Canada now and all, so here is a sneak preview of the next couple months, I am going to Ontario for 2 weeks to see my wonderful family and just rest, then back home, and here is the big thing… I have the chance to go to Georgia for one month live for free and get trained up for my new position and learn the ropes of AIM from the main man himself. I have been praying and I have to trust God for some big things. This year the Lord provided for me someone who was a blessing beyond believe, and financially took on my bills to see this trip happen. So now I am praying in faith about this and hope you will join me as well. See you all soon. Much love
