Well, I’m in Thailand right now on an island called Koh Samet for final debrief. Wouldn’t it be nice if after 11months on this crazy journey I had all the answers to my future? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Earlier this morning Michael Hindes asked me, “Tell me something you learned this year.”
As eloquently as I could, I replied, “Uhhhhhhh.”
“Okay, well tell me the most important thing you learned this year.”
Without needing time to consider I answered, “To love freely.”
And that is the truth. I may know nothing about my future, but I know that what I learned this year has forever affected how I will respond to it. I have written many blogs on the subject of loving freely and I see how my life has changed through the process of learning and applying this lesson.
Jesus loved freely and extended grace first. Something Michael said to me a few months ago was to “lead with love.” He said that so often we lead with answer, especially those of us (he and I included) who tend to live in a black and white world, when what we need to do is lead with love.
After I leave the Thailand I’m staying in California for 5 days before heading home to be with my family for Thanksgiving. I have much to think on and plan on spending some time alone away from everything to ponder and pray about what the next step in bringing the kingdom is for me.
I could use all the prayer I can get because I know that going home will be a whole new culture shock and having no answers will leave me vulnerable to a lot of confusion. But I know that the Lord is not a God of confusion and so I ask you to pray with me for guidance and wisdom as I make yet another transition.
Thank you for all your support this year, and don’t worry, I plan to continue writing blogs after I’m home about how things are going. Also I have lots of picutres to share with you all from this year that never made it onto a blog.
