My One Year Anniversary . . .

Wow!  One year ago today, I made the move to Nicaragua to serve as a long-term missionary.  What a year it has been!  In some moments I can’t believe that it has already been a year, and in other moments I feel like it has been much longer.  Neither of those is entirely good or entirely bad.

It was hard to leave my family and friends, given how close we all are, but I knew it was God’s plan for me and they knew that too.  Though I was sad and nervous, I was also eager, excited, and hopeful about what was ahead.  I felt ready!  I felt prepared!  I was wrong.

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying.  I do know that this move and my life here is God’s calling on my life and I did prepare for this next step through prayer and training.  However, I don’t think that you can ever fully prepare yourself for what life on the field will really be like.  Even with the best cultural training and stories from others who have been on the field, you can’t know what it will look like for YOU.  I definitely was not expecting what a lot of it looked like for ME.

There have been days of joy and reward found in all that I get to see the Lord doing here.  There have also been days when the challenges seemed like they were more than I could bear and I wanted to run home.  I have connected with new “family”, but I have also had times where the loneliness was overwhelming. I have risen to the challenge and at times accomplished things that I didn’t think I could, and I have also made mistakes and fallen short more times than I can count.

This experience has not been what I expected it to be, but I do know that it has been exactly what God knew that it would be.  I have seen Him working in me over this past year as much as I have been witness to the work that He is doing here in Nicaragua.  I am blessed to be a part of what is happening here, but more importantly I am blessed to experience a growing relationship with Him. 

My relationship with Him is the true purpose in it all.  That is true for all of us.  No matter where we live or serve, that is it.  My experiences this year have taught me that and made it real for me, maybe for the first time.  That lesson is the foundation that I want to build this next year upon. 

As I look forward to what ministry and life will look like for me, personally and with my team, my relationship with Him has to be the foundation.  It has to be my primary focus.  I count this year as a success for teaching me that. 

I do not know what to expect out of this next year in Nicaragua, but I am eager to step into it.  I know the Lord will teach me many things.  I know I will experience His love and grace in new ways that I can’t even imagine.  I know that I will see Him move in the areas that we serve.  I know that people will leave my life and new people will be brought into it.  I know that I will struggle and succeed.  I know that there will be hard days, good days, and excellent days.  I know that I will experience change.  Most importantly, I know that He will provide and be with me every step of the way.

Bring on Year 2!!!