Doing Life

Can I first say a big thank you to everyone who has been praying for me these past two weeks? It was hard to move here and still hard to "do life" here, but God is renewing my heart and mind. I battle homesickness and feelings of inadequacy often, but I no longer feel the physical pain of it and my appetite/weight has returned. The only reason I know for this is that God is faithful to answer your prayers on my behalf.

Thank you thank you thank you!

This past week has been a constant lesson in culture and patience. Cutlure, in the fact that every errand here takes about 2 hours to do. Patience, in the fact that I can't do anything to change it. Culture, in the fact that I can't go anywhere alone (and the introvert in me misses my independence). Patience, in the fact that after 2 weeks, we are still "settling in" to our  homes. 

Yet, every time I walk onto campus, I 

(1) love it 

(2) know that this change is for my best and 

(3) remember how good it is to be near to the Lord.

My brain is a hodgepodge of emotions and memories to share, and most days, I have to take a few minutes before bed to reflect on everything that I felt, thought, said, heard, saw and smelt. It almost seems like I'm having to re-learn and re-experience how to live: eat, breathe, walk, talk, smile, laugh, dress. I'm like a little child (This is a simile, people. We can talk about that time the flight attendant asked me if I was old enough to ride without an escort later...), and it's hard to not know things. 

Which leaves me with one explanation: I am going to be taught. Something. Everything. Great things. Small things. Good things. Sad things. Dreams. Truths. Lies. Reality. Perseverance. Hope. 

All for my best and Christ's glory. 

"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted." -Romans 6:17

And, now, all I have to leave you with is that hodgepodge from my life here...

"You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness. You have redeemed my soul from death. I was a hungry child, a dried up river. I was a burned out forest. No one could do anything for me. But you put food in my belly, water in my dry bed, to my blackened branches, you brought the springtime green of new life. And nothing is impossible for you." -You Have Redeemed My Soul, Hymn

xoxo,
kme