Man, God's good!

I apologize for that last entry which was written shortly after a long nap at a time of day that my body thought should be the middle of the night. My mind and body is still not back up to speed but it’s recovering :)

With that said, I would like to just share with you some of my ponderings this morning that I have had as I thought on God’s goodness and grace to me over the past 37 days of travels.

Things that made these past few weeks challenging:

- Traveling for 32 hours straight with nothing more than two 30 minute naps along the way … TWICE!

- Going through a 13 hour time change 2X (affecting the mind and stomach . . . or was that all the airport and plane food?)

- Sleeping on 11 different beds/couches (one of which was for 4 nights consecutively, another for 3 nights consecutively and the rest were less)

- Driving over 2,000 miles and flying over 5,000 (in the States)

- Spending “quality time” in 7 different airports (and going through security 8 times)

- 5 delayed flights (averaging 1.5 hours a piece)

- Not getting to spend much time with my parents or sister

- Having to say goodbye . . . A LOT

BUT ways in which God’s grace was poured out on me:

- I had safe, smooth travels – I never fell asleep while driving, never lost ANYTHING, and only paid luggage fees one time!!

- I was never sick

- Enjoyed games of “Yahtzee”, ping-pong, “Clue”, “Rook”, “Nickles” and “Sorry” with family

- Played ultimate frisbee (I forgot what it was like to play any type of sport, since I’m a girl and all ;) )

- Watched a Colt’s game with my sister (they won of course, even though it was pre-season)

- Shared with 7 congregations, visited 2 colleges, met with 7 pastors

- Had a 4 day vacation in Minneapolis for a friend’s wedding (it was awesome to be a part of that bridle party, they were a hoot!)

- Countless hugs

- Late night talks (and late night Wi hula-hooping contests!)

- Great food! (I seriously felt like my schedule was “meet, eat and leave”)

- Numerous people who showed genuine interest in what I am doing (I could tell who was keeping up with me, and some of them I didn’t even know!)

- Speaking at a relative’s church that wasn’t even on “my list” with a last minute (literally!) invitation to share for the whole service . . . did I mention that they also very generously blessed me?!

- Having God get me through times of sharing my ministry when all my body wanted to do was sleep

- Somehow getting me on a FULL flight out of Moscow because of missing a flight AND saving me about $150 in baggage fees!

Man, God’s good! His grace never ceases to amaze me! In hind’s sight, I would have liked to have more time to prepare for some of the opportunities I had and I would have liked more time with family. But God used this time to abundantly bless and show me – yet again – His faithfulness and grace.