Sun, Jul. 21
... And once again, life begins anew
I'm home. I suppose that's the first thing I should say, hey? I'm home, and it's good to be back. This morning, it was so great to be in church... in
my church. I love it a lot and I've missed it a lot while I've been gone. I was so excited just to be there this morning... I was walking around with this
huge perma-grin on my face.
I got the Laura hug I was waiting for too. Right in the middle of the service, in the aisle, because she came in late. It was terrific! :o) The hug was exactly like I described it to Janel and Chelsea last week, too, right down to the last detail. That was pretty fun. And, of course, so was getting to hang out with her this afternoon.
It's been so amazing to look back on this whole experience and see God's hand in it. Of course, I started seeing that long before I left, but I'm seeing so many more of the puzzle pieces coming together now than I did then. I see more of the purpose behind the fact that I didn't make the team in the first place, the timing of when I did make it, some of the reasons why I was able to be away from home when I was, and so much more. It's incredible, really. It's such an amazing space to be in... so awe-filled. Over the entire trip, even on the bad days, there was still a sense of awe and wonder about the whole thing... like it was a gift that, even when it wasn't the best day, it was still so amazing that I couldn't be completely negative about it.
There's so much to say; so much to process; so much to be thankful for. I still haven't come anywhere near understanding all that I'm going to learn from this trip. I still don't understand everything I've already learned, let alone anything that's going to come in the future. I'm excited, though. That's been my catchphrase for the past couple of weeks. "I'm excited to get home to..." "I'm excited to go to..." "I'm excited to see what God's going to do with..." "I'm excited to see where else God's going to take me with all of this..." There are so many things.
But right now, I'm excited to see how even more of the puzzle is going to fit together in the next weeks and months, and I'm excited to see how the things that seem so random and disconnected from the "important things" now will become part of the big picture later on.
It's just so far beyond me... There's so much that I don't understand, and so much that is so incomprehensible, for now. I don't understand why God loves me so much that he blesses me so richly, even after I've failed him so often and so greatly. But that's the amazing thing about grace, I guess. :o)
infinite || abyss
posted at 9:12 p.m.
