A Lot of Little Lessons

I'm at the part of this particular season in which everyone starts asking, "How has your time here been?" "What has been the most memorable part?" "Do you feel different?" "Are you ready to go home?" And each of those questions has a multifaceted answer that boils down to a combination of yes and no and something in between. Every day seems told hold a lesson these days. There is so much discovery happening, a small epiphany here and the glimmer of understanding there. God has been and continues to be faithful and loving in teaching me about perspective, persistence, patience, purpose, prayer...the list goes on.

Tomorrow is the first day of school of our last ten weeks together.  Ten weeks and this incredible journey transitions to the next step. It really is a bittersweet time stamp.  Sweet because I have loved ones waiting to embrace me, stories to hear and share, new prospects to pursue.  But it is also bitter because I have to leave the Philippines in the middle of the work being done here.  It's bitter because I am afraid of facing first world "reality", reverse culture shock, and the commonplace distractions that are absent in my current daily life.  

Before my time here, I would have said there isn't a place for a single woman on the mission field.  While I remain convicted of specified roles in congregational worship and teaching according to gender, there are so many different pieces and roles that form an effective mission that can be and are filled by single women.  All my excuses for ignoring long term mission work have dissipated, leaving behind a burning desire to live out the great commission.

I'm afraid of American culture quenching that desire.  Without God's constant sustenance, I'm not strong enough to stick to my guns. Which segues nicely into my prayer for this mission as I prepare to leave: it has been a privilege to experience the varied personalities on this particular mission field.  Each member of each team brings something essentially unique to the table of service.  Their different specialties and quirks and methods provide the necessary avenues to connect with people groups and subcultures to perform God's work.  And yet, these differences can also trip each other up without that focus on God's divine plan.  My heart is filled with a prayer for unity, just as it is filled with a celebration of God's unique gifting of His servants.

All that being said, we aren't finished yet.  Ten weeks is still a ways to go.  I'm willing, if not ready, so Lord, let me finish strong.