Here it is. The email so many of you have been anticipating. After reading this some of you will be sad and some of you will be excited. I am feeling both. Try to understand. We met as a family last night to talk about our decision to stay another year. We asked the kids to spend this week praying and thinking about what God would want us to do. Emma said that when she was at the pool, she went underwater and God was under there with her and He told her that He would let her know what she was supposed to do. This time when we met she said that she really missed home, and family, and restaurants, and our church but that she thought God wanted us to stay here another year. Sophie said that she really missed family, Timber (my parents dog), and her stuffed animals but that she thought God wanted us to stay. Wyatt said he thought we should go home for the summer and then come back and help the dorm kids. Garth and I are both thinking the same thing. So…unless God shows us otherwise we will be home for the summer and then we will come back here for another year. There is a lot I am feeling right now regarding this, and I will try to explain it to you. I am excited to have another year to serve as a family, we are able to spend more time together, the kids love the freedom they have here, I love the closeness of the school, church, library, pool, ocean…the beauty is breathtaking, plus, it will be good for the dorm kids to have continuity, we will be better at this the second year-(hopefully we are learning from our mistakes.) But also, I am really missing family and friends-you feel so far away-I miss our church and the fellowship I had there-I miss the ministry I had at church with the little kids, our house, the convenience of everything there, the familiarity of culture, and language…but, you know, God never called me to just do what I want. If He did, my life wouldn’t amount to a whole lot. I need to be stretched and shaken out of the comfort zone I wedged myself into. Like the cinnamon rolls I made today. The ingredients looked nice in their containers, and could have sat there on the counter for some time. But when I moved them and mixed them together I was able to make something beautiful. Life here is hard. But I can’t think just about the difficult parts otherwise it will become my focus. God didn’t say to me, “Become a Christian and I will make your life really easy.” I would be a such dull person if my life had no problems or struggles in it. Those things help shape me into the person God designed me to be. I can listen to Him and follow His path for my life and have adventures beyond my imagination or I can listen to my feelings and live an easy life and miss out on God’s great blessings for my life. He has our best interests in mind. We are here for a reason. It is all part of His divine plan. God has this whole bizarre, amazing journey planned for us. He is standing there with His hand out waiting for us to grab on and go with Him. We can’t go with one foot home and one foot here. We have to be willing to say, “O.k. I am scared about this, but I trust that You know what is best and I am willing to go.” So, with that mindset, we as a family are grabbing on to that hand and taking a chance with God. He does not disappoint. We would like you to come along with us. Please pray for us, write to us, and check us out on our blog. We will try to keep you as up to date as we can. Thank you for being a part of our lives so far. You are all a treasure.
Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment