I’m writing this from the past…
Or maybe I’m just speaking into the future.
Either way, I scheduled this blog to post much later than I
wrote it. So maybe we’ll all be surprised by what it says!
Today, the day I’m writing you, is January 14, 2012. The world
around me is just shaking off the afterglow of the holiday season and beginning
to exchange resolutions for routines.
I got a late start, and I usually can’t even remember which
month it is anyway, so I’m just revving up in excitement for God’s promises for
the year.
Not only am I writing to you, the future, from a new year’s mindset,
but on the first day of my 3rd year in Africa.
Two years ago today, with jet lagged, cross-eyed glee, I
unknowingly set foot on the soil that would become my new home on earth.
 |
| January 14, 2010 |
 |
| January 2010 |
How can a girl not get reflective at a time such as this?
Today, January 14th, 2012, my house is empty for the
first time in 2 ½ months. Today, January 14th and the today from which you
are reading, my house is brimming with promises, hope and God creatively
weaving the highest good for all His kiddos. And that’s the part I’m reflecting
on. And that’s why you’re reading this blog in August instead of January when I
wrote it.
I have no idea what our Augusts have in store. I know that
if I’m in South Africa the day this posts, I’m probably FREEZING cold. And if
you are in Texas reading this, you’re most likely BLAZING hot. Whichever
hemisphere you reside on and no matter how you fill your days, we are now 8 months into the year that you probably started with at least a handful of hopes and dreams. We could
probably all use a reminder of the Name and the One who authored hope and wrote
the dreams in our hearts. And a reality check that there’s more to this year
and to who you are than whatever is on mine and your to-do list today.
If I would have known on January 14, 2010 what was in store
for the rest of that year, I would’ve see everything with different eyes and a
different heart. And if I would have known that in 2011 I would become a
spiritual mama and a foster mama, I would have made A LOT of other suggestions as
to ways God could use me that involved a lot less tears, cultural splits,
spiritual warfare, financial support raising, endless transitions, and
separation from my family.
 |
| Me and little Lifa. April 2010 |
So, it’s a good thing He didn’t tell me until it was time.
Maybe today – the August, present-tense today – is time.
Time for Him to unveil and reveal something great He has for you. And for me.
Or maybe today is a day we both need to be reminded that
those seeds of hope and promise He planted in me and in you are real, were planted
richly in the fertile soil of our hearts, and the harvest is coming.
 |
| January 2012 |
On January 14, 2012 God reminded me that HE knows the road
for me and for you. HE won’t leave my side or yours for a moment, no matter how
far and fast you try to run and no matter how many ways I try to take things
into my own hands.
 |
| August 2010. Photo by Jillian Hamp |
On January 14, 2012 God asked me to tell you and myself that we are filled with Him because His blood was shed for us. And it doesn’t matter the ways we fill in the societal blanks of who we are and what we do. We weren’t made to be called therapists, pastors, missionaries, teachers, nurses, doctors, businessmen, mothers, fathers, or anything but His children with the greatest gift: the love, the authority and the commission to carry the name of Jesus wherever we are in whatever we do.
 |
| January 2012. Photo by Carly B |
On January 14, 2012 God said to write to somebody to say
that He hasn’t forgotten our hopes and dreams, and He doesn’t want you – or me –
to let chaos be louder than His voice. He is fulfilling His great plan today.
He has something for you today.
 |
| January 2012. Photo by Carly B |
So, on August 14, 2012, let’s carry the name of Jesus in all
that we do. And let’s trust our God to be who He says He is and do what He says
He’ll do.
 |
| January 2012. Photo by Carly B |
No comments:
Post a Comment