Revelations

It’s been another crazy week! I feel like I should stop writing that, because while I think it will always be true to a certain extent, it will start feeling very repetitive. It’s just amazing to me how many new things I keep learning. It never stops! Every day has a new opportunity, a new skill to learn, a new kind of prayer, a new level of friendship. I have never learned so much in my life.

Luckily, I am a nerd, and I love to learn new things.

Last weekend we went down to Atlanta for a Theology of the Body conference presented by Christopher West. What I would like to know is: where has this been all my life?! I am going to have to get myself a copy of the book—or at least Christopher West’s commentary as a start. I can’t even begin to write about the revelations I had over those two days; there are just too many. Suffice it to say that life and vocations and family—basically every relationship I have or have ever had or ever will have—makes a lot more sense now. The most significant thing I took away from the weekend was the realization of what an amazing blessing it is to be a woman; I’m just starting to really appreciate how God made me and what that looks like and what that means for me and my life, as a woman. It’s definitely something I’ll have to explore more and live into as I continue my year here.

I also realized this weekend just how much I’ve already grown attached to being here, how much this already feels like home. I mean, I’ve talked before about loving the lifestyle here, but I’ve come to understand that it goes above and beyond that as well. I was gone for about 4 days—4 days that were actually surprisingly hard! I loved being able to see my family and spend time with them, but the whole time I was away I had a feeling that there was another family that I was separated from. It was really good, although somewhat odd, when the plane landed back in Atlanta on Wednesday and I felt relieved to be back “home.” I certainly did not expect that; or at least expect it to happen so quickly.

Please pray for all of us here as we discern as a community the best direction for our mission trip in December. And please continue to pray for me, as I grow and learn and love out here—and know that I am praying for you too.