Saturday, September 24, 2011

1 year. And everything's changed.

Summer has come and gone and here I am, September 24th, 4 months since my last post. I don't even know where to begin with what's gone on in my life. But since today is significant, I'll just re-cap quickly what Summer 2011 meant to me. 
Humility.


That's the word that comes to mind when I think about my summer. There's nothing more humbling than cleaning a toilet on your knees every single day. I thought I knew what it meant to be humbly submitted. I had no idea what it meant to be humbly submitted. I cleaned Wagon Train. I cleaned up after 8-11 year olds, doing the same thing every single day. And every single day I was blown away by the things God taught me. I remember how I got opportunities to spend time with kids and ask them how their week was. I got to listen to kids worship Jesus every morning. I got to build relationships with people I normally wouldn't. I was given humility by learning to be humble. It was incredible. The most incredible part of my summer was an incident while I was cleaning the girls bathroom. A counselor looked at me, exclaimed, "i know you!' and continued to tell me how she and her girls went to Meadow Ranch week 4 and heard me speak at the girl's night, giving my testimony. She then told me that her girls STILL to this day talk and discuss what I had shared. My world was rocked, because even when I was cleaning a toilet in Wagon Train, God still managed to use me. It was awesome.


in August I moved to Fresno. Yeah, yeah, I know. I went from traveling the world to Fresno. Trust me, I wasn't excited about it either. But God has been teaching me many things from this Fresno experience. He's continually showing me that we are in an incredibly broken and hurting world. Something I couldn't really see from Hume Lake eyes. When I landed in "the real world" the veil was lifted from my eyes and I could really see what I couldn't see before. And hear things. Oh my goodness, for someone who has never cussed a day in her life, obviously it's TOTALLY normal to cuss every 2 words. That I wasn't prepared for. College is different than I expected, but I'm learning. I've been working with the Well's jr high youth group and absolutely loving it. My lifegroup is INCREDIBLE and I'm learning how to make friends outside of Hume Lake! Thank you Jesus! 


But now for the real reason I'm writing. Today is a significant day. Today I hopped on a plane at LAX. I got stopped in the x-ray line 5 times and had my bag searched for something sharp which turned out to be my Crayons for my Princess Coloring book. I sat in the middle seat and did not get up at all in 10.5 hours. I survived my first Heathrow experience. I got on a bus and got to know the people who I would be spending the next 6 months of my life with. I walked into a fairytale. Ate pasta. Unpacked. Made friends. And my life was changed.
I cannot believe it's been a year. I keep looking at the calendar, thinking there has to be something wrong. Surely it hasn't been a year, surely it's only been a few hours. From the very beginning, walking off that plane, to the very end, waving goodbye to a bus-full of family with tears streaming down my face, God has been good, and he has been faithful. I came home different. I live differently. I can be where I am today because of this place called Capernwray. Friendships became deeper in 6 months than what took me 11 years. I cannot believe that my incredible God allowed me this adventure. I am so thankful and so humble for the works he has done in me and my fellow Capernwray-ers. I miss it every single day, and feel as if there's a hole in my heart that will never be filled until all 175 of us stand together in heaven, holding hands and praising God like we did that last night in England. I cannot wait for that day.
But for now, we go on, and we continue in the adventure that England started in us. I cannot wait to see what He does in us. I cannot wait to see them again.

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