"He does have surprising, secret purposes. I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced.
It’s hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times,
feel long across those words, make sure they are real.
His love letter forever silences any doubts:
“His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory”
(1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB)."
Ann Voskamp
Time isn't stopping, no matter how hard I try. Emotions are consuming my entire being, without my approval. Yet, how blessed I am to be apart of this. There are always those final moments before something ends, where your heart can't seem to catch up with what's really happening, it just can't imagine that it has arrived at the finish. That's where I am, in the midst of all the remaining dinner dates and plans, my heart cannot bear to grasp that this, too, is finishing.
That's how goodbyes are though, aren't they?
You are welcoming your return to those you love, but you are dreading leaving those you newly love. You are anticipating the start of God's next chapter for you, but deeply saddened that there has to be an end to this.
There have been moments where the tears have suddenly struck me in the taxi on the way home, in church, in Bible Study. There have been moments when invisible tears have taken up residence, filling my eyes. . . but apart from that, there has been so much laughter and love.
I was watching my students filing in for their Oral Exam [the last step before being chosen for the Portland Exchange Group], it was such a beautiful and exciting time, to be with them. To pray, laugh, practice and love them, before they took their very last step.
Afterwards, I spoke in Bible Study without a translator. . . better said, God spoke through me. I conquered a fear, not without putting up a fight of course, because I was shaken with my doubts beforehand. The Lord saw me through. We had a foot-washing and a time of beautiful prayer in small groups, and oh how I felt the Spirit moving. It was such a blessing to see that take place, before I left, because I truly believe God asked that of me.
What can't be said in words, can be beautifully evident in pictures, here you are:
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