Remember when…
It’s something I’ve thought about quite frequently.
Not any event in particular, but in general I have thought so much about what I just experienced. The last month has had that “day after you get back from Disney World” feeling. You just experienced something so transformative and life-altering. How do you just come back and pick up with life at home, almost like nothing has happened….like the last year hasn't happened?
Well, the answer is you don’t. It’s a process and a journey.
Some days I feel like a chemist, trying to find the right balance between the “old” me and “new” me in order to achieve the “best” me.
You’re probably wondering what happened this past year that has led to all this. Well the answer is as simple as it is complex. This last year felt so natural and so uncomfortable all at the same time. I met people who were strangers, but in the same year those strangers became family. I realized that the people the world refers to as “the least of these,” well those are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom of God.
That “unemployed construction worker” is actually voluntarily not working construction so he can pastor his church that so desperately needs his leadership.
That “little boy with the bad temper” is actually a ten year old man that is homeless and raising his younger siblings.
What am I trying to say? Over the course of 11 months I had the privilege of visiting 11 countries in various parts of the world, and in the process God completely turned my idea of reality upside down.
I experienced so many trials, so many tests of my faith, but I was also a witness to healing, transformations, and hundreds of salvations. As a result I find myself reminiscing often, and often I stay stuck in the past.
I catch myself thinking about how cool God was. How many awesome things God did. I don't in any way think that those are bad things, but as I move into this next season, it’s so important that it doesn't stop there.
What God has done should encourage me and my faith as to what God will do.
God “was” but the incredible thing for us is that He also "is" and "is to come”.
I don't know where you find yourself, but don't get so caught up in what your eyes have seen that you lose sight of what is to come. Even if it doesn't always feel like it, God is working in the here and the now. He has so much in front of us. Remember where you came from, but don't forget where you’re going.
For now, I will rest in His presence, it’s gotten me this far and I’m expectant for even GREATER things.