Sentimental, Nostalgic, Blessed

Tonight, I find myself with a heavy heart and a racing mind.  God is doing so many things around me right now.

I am thankful for the beginning of a new season.  Today I packed up my office of four years to say goodbye to Bethany.  This was bittersweet.  I have grown up so much over the last four years.  I have experienced things I never thought would occur.  I have seen God show up, many times when no one thought He would.  I have witnessed many miracles.  I have seen transformed lives.  I have done life with some people that I never would have met had it not been for this experience. I will say that Bethany has been challenging but when I look back I remember the joy, the memories, the love, the colleagues that blessed me and challenged me to love God more, and the role that God allowed me to play in the story.  Tomorrow will be my last placement and I am rejoicing over a great way to end my time at Bethany. My heart is heavy, I will miss my mamas & babies.

I am thrilled my new adventure will be starting soon.  My new adventure will challenge me in ways my old adventure couldn't.  I am realizing that I will be learning even more about who God wants me to be.  I am leaving Bethany to become a small group director for kindergarten to fifth graders.  I will be leading some amazing small group leaders who will in turn lead their little ones.  While this comes with its own excitement it also comes with its own fears and challenges.  I am being pushed and that is good.  There are many areas where I need a potter's hand to refine me.  God be gentle but please don't let me stay the way I am.  Transform me into who you want me to be.

I am thankful for friends that are in Africa meeting their newest children.  They are constantly posting and seeing the smiles on their faces brings me back to a year ago when I was in Africa.  I am thankful for families that are being made.  I am thankful for the seeds that are being planted in other families because of this family's obedience.  I am thankful for the struggle, heart-ache, brokenness and confusion that leads us back to you.  I am thankful for your perfect timing and how sometimes you love to show off.  Join me in praising God for what He has been doing in their family & what He will continue to do.  We praise you because you are a God of details.  You know the plans you have for us and we are thankful for you.

Change is good.  Change requires us to challenge what we believe.  Change usually involves hardship. Hardship requires faith, belief in something other than ourselves, humility, and grace.  I am thankful for change.  I am thankful for this season in my life.  I am thankful for my God who loves me and walks with me through this journey.