I'll probably be packing and repacking until Sunday, the day I leave, the day I am headed out of the country for the next two months. It irritated me at first. The business woman with a check list of to do's coming out of me, wondering why on earth everything couldn't be ready at a certain date at a certain time so this could all be finished. Then it hit me, thinking about all I have shoved into a drawer back at base, that still needs to fit into my hiking backpack, right now I have the blessing to rest and sometimes that is the hardest part.
Truth is, I was ready for anything. Ready for the text that we'd be going back to places I'd already been too, what I wasn't ready for was dreams coming true. Are we ever ready for that? These are my last thoughts, before shutting down devices that help protect our security while overseas and these are the words I hope you remember, when you don't see the link to my blog popping up on your news feed. The moment dreams come true and as hard as the resting can be, these are the exact moments that prepare us, for the hope and future God has in mind for us. He has taken me places I already couldn't have dreamed of, because they were His dreams. I picture God holding my hand and then covering my eyes saying, "Amelia, I have a surprise for you!" Sometimes, I think I know all there is to know about what He is preparing me for, but most of the time its His pleasure to blow my mind and hear me laugh. I hope you have dreams. Dreams that even though they might seem like dreams to you, God can transform them into His dreams and His desires in you. We can plan and prepare and try to fit everything into two bags for two months of a journey, but even during that time He likes to surprise us, sometimes He doesn't want us to see what's coming until the moment we arrive. Then when we've got our feet planted He will say, "Surprise!" In that moment and as I try to prepare and rest, I trust Him guiding me. Even though I cannot see everything that's going to happen, I'm excited to see where I'm landing and when I step off the plane, hear Him say, "Surprise!"
"Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own."
-Jeremiah 33:3
Its my favorite spot, whenever I come home from school. I'm sitting here on the corner of the couch, anticipation building for the moment I'm loving to live as well as the moments that are coming my way. I come to this corner of the couch to relax and breathe and read and laugh and much more. The house is all lit up with Christmas tree lights and I am all lit up on the inside that can't help, but spill over on the outside. Whether it was coming home on Thursday and heading to my high school before I got home for a concert, or working out I've found so many nooks and crannies along my journey that have become other homes to me. Every time I arrive back at my YWAM base I am greeted with a, "Welcome home!" As I've been so embraced both near and far this Christmas season, I want to greet others with a welcome home whether its their home or not. Tonight, I await the arrival of my two best friends and tomorrow brings on the joy of cookie decorating. Its a real welcome home for me, but whether its on the corner of the couch or on a plane flying to Asia I want that attitude of welcome home to light up my face. The lights that can last all year round, are the ones we choose to give and spill over to the ones who need to hear the welcome home. I've snapped out of my Seattle time and now rest on the corner of the couch on Minnesota time. With great jubilee, I dance in the year to come embracing moment by moment and letting my smile spill over to light up those who need to hear the welcome home, this season.
