6 Days :)

I leave in 6 days. I leave for Wales in 6 days. I cannot believe it. (though to be honest it will be 7 days until I am actually in Wales. Yay transatlantic flights!)...

It's also hard to believe that I've been home for almost 3 weeks. I probably tortured everyone I know with the phrase "I just want to be home" over the course of the last semester. And I'm not going to lie I had big expectations for this time at home. I truly expected this time at home before leaving for Wales to be the best. I had daydreamed so much about it that I had practically convinced myself this break could be any different than what I envisioned. However, this break was not what I expected. Not even close. I've been let down and I've definitely let myself down. This time at home will probably not go down as the greatest, but it has reminded me so much that my ways are not God's ways. And it has been a reminder in grace and trusting in God.

In regards to this break I do want to share some praises from being home thus far. I want to share them, but really I've been feeling really down and I want to remind myself of what God has done since I've been home.

Praises

• I've been praying that God would bring me to a place where I would be willing to go wherever He sends me. For those of you who know me, you know that for the longest time I was quite adamant that I would never return to Lake Placid to live and then within the last the only place I wanted to be was Lake Placid. Currently, I just want to go where God wants me. I love Lake Placid and would love to come back, but at the same time I wouldn't mind an adventure (not that LP isn't an adventure). I know wherever I go there He is.
• All my support and my visa situation got worked out, so I am able to leave for Wales on the 1st.
• I have honestly been encouraged by so many people since I've been home, the majority who had no idea what their words or time meant to me. The people who have surrounded me since I've been home may not have always been the ones whom I wanted, but it is a reminder of how God knows what I need so much more than I do. Just today I was encouraged by a wonderful woman in my church out of the blue and by the "Ish Man" as he told me his Bible verse (Jeremiah 29:12) and about Jonah and "Ninva."

I know there are a lot more, but these are the ones which are sticking out to me at the moment. Coming home isn't always easy for me. Maybe because I'm so far away or maybe because I'm not longer the girl I was when I left but at the same time I am. Sometimes I love coming home and sometimes I hate it. But regardless coming home reminds me of redemption. How God can take us and mold us and change us into who He desires us to be. Coming home reminds me of where He's brought me from, but it also reminds me that He's not nearly done with me yet. Which makes me smile so much :) So no matter where life takes me, I will always praise Him for Lake Placid and for His beautiful redemption.

On a different note I was reading about Wales' religious history. And for those of you who do not know this, but Wales is known as the land of revivals. However, the last revival occurred in 1905. One politician during the revival commented on it by saying this revival was "rocking Welsh life like an earthquake." When I read this it made me think of the story in 1 Kings 19 when God appears to Elijah. Elijah has fled from Jezebel, the queen of Israel who wanted to kill him. And God comes to Elijah and says why are you here. Elijah starts telling God how the Israelites have "rejected your covenant...put your prophets to death...and now they're trying to kill me, too." God tells Elijah to go and stand on the mountain because the Lord's presence is about to pass by. Elijah obeys and their is a powerful wind, but God isn't in the wind. And then there is an earthquake, but again God isn't in the earthquake. Then there is a fire, but God isn't in the fire either. Finally, there is a gentle whisper and God is in it. My pray is that God will come to Wales in the form of a gentle whisper. And ask you all to join in with me.

Much love in He who loves far beyond what we can comprehend :)