Back at Emthonjeni

I'm back in South Africa again ... and so glad to be with my family, and here in Africa. I left Johannesburg homesick for Grand Rapids and somewhere along the journey through Spain, I realized there are parts of Johannesburg that I have come to love as well... I was homesick for both places while I was away.

That might not sound like a big deal to you.. but it was incredible for me to recognize.

The kids and Billy and I spent lots of couch time over the past few days.... telling stories and reading stories and eating pasta (mmmm... how I craved carbohydrates while I was away in gluten land) and snuggling tightly making all sorts of promises to never let go.

I had a lot of time to pray while I was walking miles and miles and miles each day (we walked over 250Km in less than two weeks). Pray and listen and wonder and dream and be silent and feel God's presence and argue a little with Him when what I heard Him say didn't quite match what I thought He should be saying. And relax into this reality... . His ways are not always our ways.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts. "

I came home with a better understanding of my place in this season... and of my God no matter the season. Now comes the difficult moments of putting it together in real life. Again, saying "yes" to what God asks of me for today... even when it doesn't make sence. Yes, I will homeschool my kids. Yes, I will write three pages every day. Yes, I will find a new church. Yes, I will give myself a break from all these expectations. Yes, I will be intentional with my listening so I can continue to say "yes" to whatever God asks... every day.