regroup and release.

I have been regrouping, detangling myself from stresses that came and took hold of my heart. I have been settling from spells of difficult goodbyes and leaving behind roots of my heart in the soil of Mexico, in the walls and classrooms of NOE.

And I’m sitting on the other side and all I can do is think of how blessed I am. As a twenty-three and four year old, I was given a flight, and monthly support, but more importantly I was given a home, and a family. I spent ten months loving on children, loving on His people. Sure, I had worries that came up from relationships, but I lived to love.

And well, I’m here. I’m currently joining the ranks in search of jobs. But I don’t want to lose that living to love. I think it should walk with me, through these next steps of my journey. That should be part of what moves me, living to love.

If I have learned anything, it’s that God’s faithfulness compels me to the field, stateside or on foreign soil. It’s that His joy is contagious, and that this beautiful life with all its’ pain and heaviness is all worth it. It’s that sometimes you just have to move ahead blindly, without clear direction and well, God will give you a NOE, a place where you just feel like you are right where you should be. A place where your laughter exudes from your spirit, because every single day your calling is to love,and well love does.

Love moves and flows through your beating heart and lingers still when you’re gone. Love imparts a sense of hope in place of hopelessness, and I just want to be love, wherever He takes me.

Tears are coming, all because I left with a heart full, and this time that fullness has seemed to walk out of all of this with me. I think that’s proof in itself- that I’m right where God needs me to be. Time will tell, where He wants me, but surprisingly I’m not worried. Instead, I’m putting myself out there with confidence, because I’m certain that God made me for such a time as this. And what a welcome feeling, it is to feel such a freedom.

My name is Kristen Main, and well my life has been forever changed. This year marks ten years of serving on the field of Mexico in three beautifully and distinctly different cities. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my life any other way. God has called me to love His children and within this past year, He’s gently reminded me that I can do precisely that anywhere in this world.

And wherever I end up, those three cities and their people travel with me, memories stored up and stowed away, shaping me into a woman after God’s own heart. And well, that’s all I want to be…