The Adventure Continues . . .

The best Starbucks on planet earth!!!!

I was thankful to be given an hour to leave my house and be by myself while Jon watched our attached and needy children.  I went to my favorite ‘alone time’ spot, Starbucks.  Just on a sidenote, this is no ordinary Starbucks. This is a “Cheers” kind of Starbucks where ‘everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came’.  They know my name, my order, my family, I know their names, their shifts, and their voices.  They are a home away from home.  I’ve grown to love the atmosphere there.  So I sat in my usual comfy couch with my drink and my journal.  I reflected on God’s calling to me this past year, my experiences, and the upcoming ‘unknown’.

God’s amazing.  He really knows what He is doing, especially when we do not.  We came here almost a year and a half ago thinking we knew what to expect.  This past year was the year of the ‘unexpected’.  God works, we just follow.  I am thankful for this time in the Philippines.  I’m grateful for the ministries, the people, the experiences, and the life changing shift of calling.  There are so many things I want to say, express, explain but I think it would take too long and it may be one of those things that only I’m supposed to understand coz God wrote it out just for me.  What I can say is that when we follow God, He leads us to exactly where we need to be.  We thought we knew what we needed, where we wanted to be, and what we wanted to do.  We had to let go of our own expectations in our life and be open to God’s leading.  Everything changed . . . for the better, no actually, for the best!  Thanks be to God.

Over a year ago I was pondering the unknown.  What are we going to do in the Philippines, where are we going to live, how am I going to raise my child in a country foreign to me?  All I knew for sure was that His calling is greater then my fears.  We went where we were called and are blessed by His leading.  Here I am again pondering the unknown.  We’re coming ‘home’ in about a week.  It’s funny how something I’ve known so well and called home for my entire life is now my ‘unknown’.  I don’t know exactly what we’re going to do in Canada, how we’re going to do this financially, what ministries we will begin.  We will arrive, unpack, and wait for Him.  I fear Canada as it is now my new ‘unknown’.  I don’t know what’s going on but again all I know for sure is that His calling is greater then my fears. A friend said that we’re in a good position because the less ties and structure we have in our life, the more free we are to follow His leading.  I kinda feel that way.  I feel like at this point we can go anywhere and do anything because there’s nothing holding us down.  We are free to move forward. I guess that’s what being a Christian is all about, reminding ourselves to let go of the things that are unnecessary and live freely in Christ.  I had to move across the world to really learn that.  I like how the next step is ‘unknown’ and how I feel like I have to put ‘home’ in parentheses . . . it just reminds me that we have a mission, and a purpose and everyday is an adventure.  One day I will be going home, until then there’s work to be done.