First South Africa Update- traveling

January 27, 2015 | 3:30pm (Indiana time) 

I sit in the window seat, watching a water drop slowly quiver its way to the top of the window. Glancing down, I see snow-dusted fields, the last that I will see of them until at least August. The thin but transparent cloud cover adds to the illusion that everything on the ground is one shade or another of white. If you're wondering if this whole moving to Africa thing feels real yet, the answer is most definitely not. I didn't even cry my eyes out at the airport, because after all, it is only a see you later. I am still at a loss for words. Is this really happening? 

As I was reading my Bible earlier this week, God gave me Song of Solomon 2:10-13 which says: 

"My beloved spoke and said to me, 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.'" 

I feel God calling me away for this season of my life. For so long I have felt the desire to do something MORE with my life, and the day has finally come. I know He's going to teach me some powerful lessons and grow me more than ever before. I am going to need Him more desperately, more often, and in more tangible ways. He's going to strip me of any need outside of my need for Him. None of this is going to be easy. I want to thank everyone for their continued prayers and thoughts and messages; this is going to be crazy in the best way possible. I can finally say it for real: IM GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!!! 

January 27, 2015 | 11:35pm (Indiana time) 

I've been on the second plane for a little more than 5 hours now. Carly's and my plane was late leaving, so it arrived about 20 minutes later than expected. We only had an hour and a half layover in Washington, D.C., and the delay cut it down to about and hour and ten minutes. We ended up having to take a shuttle and two trains to our terminal, and by the time we got to our gate it was about 5:10 (our flight left at 5:40). As we approached the gate, it looked strangely empty. I heard Carly next to me say, "Oh, are they boarding already?" Turns out, we were the very last ones on the plane. I'm sure we would have been fine if we had taken a little longer, because the plane left on time half an hour later. All of my fellow interns (except for one, who is a returning 2nd year intern) are on this flight with me and it has been absolutely amazing finally meeting them for real. It is such a strange and wonderful thing to recognize people you've never actually met before, but for whom you have been praying and who have been praying for you! We all immediately clicked, and I'm already looking forward to spending the next year with them. 

Now I'm sitting here on the plane, all the lights turned out and most everyone asleep. I can't sleep. My eyes burn from tiredness and I'm exhausted, but the adrenaline still hasn't stopped. Everything is still so surreal, and I'm sure it will be for a while. I really want to sleep, but here I sit, writing this instead. I'm torn between the desires to eat a mountain of food and to run a couple laps. My legs are sore. 

That's about it right now. We still have a little more than an hour until the plane lands, and even then, we will only be landed for an hour. We won't even get off the plane. Then we will take off again and have another 8 1/2 hours of flight. 

January 28, 2015 | 8:15am Indiana time, 3:15pm SA time

I finally was able to go to sleep sometime between 3 and 4am Indiana time, and I got a solid two hours at least, judging by the number of Lord of the Rings soundtracks I got through. We now have about 2 and a half hours left on the plane! It's strange, because all the shutters on the plane are pulled down so people can sleep, so it's really dark in here, but it's daylight outside. My internal clock isn't sure what to think right now. Is it 8am or 3pm??? In about 20 minutes the crew will serve us lunch, the third meal since we've been on the plane. 

His ability, not mine

My little Graham is here to visit one last time before I go to Africa! I think he was every bit as excited to come as we all were to have him. Like most almost-four-year-olds, he constantly wants to be played with. I'm pretty sure I heard the words, "Hey Faith, wanna play cars with me?" at least 10 times yesterday. And I don't mind at all! I want to spend every possible moment with him while he's here.

At one point yesterday when we were playing, we started to toss a ball back and forth. It made me laugh, because every time he threw it, he threw it high and hard, and I had to stretch up and do my best to catch the ball, but when I "threw" it back to him, he would cup his little hands together and I would gently toss it so it would land right in his hands. Even though I gave him high fives and told him what an awesome job he did, I laughed because of how much the game depended entirely on my ability to catch and throw well, not his. 

It immediately brought to mind my relationship with Christ. I don't think we will ever know, at least until eternity, how much everything in which we succeeded or did well in life depended entirely on God's ability, and not ours. I get so caught up in trying to do my best for Him, trying never to Him down, when all along, everything is in His hands. It's based on His ability, not mine.
I'm not trying to underestimate or undervalue striving to please God, but in the end, we're not perfect, and we won't be until He comes again and sets everything right. In the meantime, relax. He's got this. You can (figuratively) throw the ball as high and hard as possible, and He will catch it and gently toss it back to you.

10,000 reasons

After about 5 months, I'm back to blogging. I felt like I needed a break to step back and let myself learn and grow without constantly trying to put everything into words. But now I'm back just in time for Africa, and I'm looking forward to using this blog to write about what God teaches me while I'm there. 

My friend Natalie just came and visited for a week, and while she was here, she showed me her Joy Notebook, in which she recorded at least 3 things a day that brought her joy. It made me remember a book that I started in 2013. I called it my 10,000 reasons notebook, and in it I wrote things I came across during my day for which I can praise God in an effort to one day get to 10,000 reasons to praise God. I kinda forgot about it and stopped doing it in April, but Natalie inspired me to start it back up, so on the 12th I began writing things I could praise God for throughout the day. Let me tell you, if you ever need a joy boost, do this! My reasons have varied from tiny mundane pleasures like a cup of hot tea with milk and sugar to huge blessings, like God's unfailing love or a specific incident of His provision. When I begin to see again that everything, every little minute thing is a gift from God as He romances me, my joy skyrockets. In just 3 days, I have become extremely attached to my little notebook, and I carry it everywhere. It is impossible to be sad while reading it. 

I know one day, probably 10 years from now, when I get to 10,000, the song by Matt Redman will have so much more meaning as I hold my little notebooks full of tangible, experienced reasons to praise Him. And I'll never want to stop.