My it has been a while. Or a year and a half!
The silence (without going into a 5 volume novel about this missing chunk of time) has been a result of being exorbitantly busy, then burnt out to a smoldering piece of bacon, then spending time healing.
I'm just now starting to feel snatches of my old self (and a new self) emerge from the rubble with an undeniable and ever-growing helping of 'chutzpah,' as my old roommate Heidi would say. :) I actually feel excited about things. And the excitement is paired with a hope that I might really be able to get back on my two feet and bring something to the table after all this time.
At some point, I think I'd like to share a little of what has transpired in these months - both from a mental/emotional/spiritual perspective, as well as from a physical perspective (including the awesome things I have learned about health & medicine, and using good food and lifestyle habits to nurse my body back to health). But I'll leave that for another day.
Today I'll share a passage that Heather, wife of Shawn - both of whom are now leading the Serge (formerly World Harvest) team in South Sudan - shared with us today. And I share it because it so clearly expresses the work that it seems God has been doing in my life over the last eight months in the US, and a brilliant hope for the work that we are reopening with a host of new teammates shortly.
Isaiah 58:10-12
If you pour out yourself for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise up in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in the scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt,
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach;
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
The passage is aimed at the people of Israel but gets to the heart of what God desires for and of His people throughout time. Such a beautiful picture!
Please pray that this is what God would be using us to do. Currently, my former teammate Scott and new teammate Justin are on the ground in Mundri, shortly to be joined by our new team leaders (early September), followed by two other new teammates (Will & Theresa), and myself (sometime in that same window, Lord willing). It's been a long hiatus, but He knows what He's doing and I'm ever so excited to see what is next.
