Well, I haven't blogged in a long, long time...going on two years to be exact!!! To be completely honest, I stopped blogging because I didn't know what to say about Africa. I wanted to forget...I wanted to forget all I'd seen and learned. For two years now, just thinking about Africa has made me want to curl into a tiny ball on the floor and sob. But God has been at work, healing and comforting and changing that dark curtain of confusion and pain and anger into light and hope and trust.
A brief recap: For those of you who don't know me, or who have just recently met me, I spent the majority of my time from 2005 - 2008 in Jamaica and South Africa doing mission work. I was in a lot of places and met a ton of people during that time...and therefore had my eyes opened to many, many things. *Deep breath...continue.* I saw a lot of things overseas that literally wounded my soul - a deep, gaping wound. I was exposed to so many evil, evil things that caused a lot of people immense suffering and even death. I have always been a very sensitive, empathetic person. And seeing the people around me hurting and dying hurt me. Very, very deeply. And it shattered the God and the faith I had known. For my understanding of God pre-Africa was not big enough to handle and explain all that I saw in Africa.
I arrived home April 22, 2008, a day I will never, ever forget. It's a kind of anniversary for me. Honestly, the thought that surfaced the first Sunday I was home, as I was driving to church and saw a dear family I know on the highway, was, "I didn't think I'd make it home alive." But I did, and I have stories to tell. My story, yes, but even more so their story, the people I met along the way who changed my life. And, woven throughout our stories is HIS story...of redemption and goodness and mercy and love.
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