Of Ends and Beginnings

A series of countdowns:
3 Days until my birthday (Oh my goodness...20 is old.)
14 Days until Wes and I leave for New York
19 Days until I leave for Uganda

My days and weeks have consisted of various lists and countdowns. There always seems to be something else that I must do. But Praise God all my summer classes are over. This relieves a great deal of stress from my life. But oh there is so much left. The stress has not set in quite yet, but I presume it will be along shortly...unfortunately.

Recently, I have reading in Corinthians and I keep coming back to this verse:

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love." ~ 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

I love the words in this verse. stand firm. courage. strong. love. This verse encompasses everything that I want for my trip. I want to stand firm in my faith and I want people to see a difference in me. I want them to see Jesus in me. I want to be courageous for his mission. I want to jump into the ministry in Uganda and not be worried about my physical self, but only be concerned with the glory my father receives from it. Strong, strength, I pray that God will give me the strength to accompany courage and draw me closer to him and the woman he is making me. And Love.
'The greatest of these is love' (13:13). I want to be able to say that I loved all the people I encountered and loved them not for what they did for me but for who they are to my Jesus, my Lord.

God is so good and so faithful. I could write out lists of the things that I worried about for this trip. And he has stilled all of those fears in one way or another. But yesterday I was reminded of a great blessing that he gave me. Last semester I was talking with the international studies director and he was congratulating me on getting into the program and then he mentioned a scholarship. A scholarship that I was not even aware had existed, but had been applied to my financial aid and allowed me to travel to Uganda cheaper than to spend another semester at LeTourneau. The faithfulness of God is unending. Thank you Lord for unseen and unsolicited blessings!

But you know it always comes around to why me? Why was a blessed with such a beautiful family? Why do I have such wonderful friends? Why has God chosen me to go to Uganda? Why has he poured so much into my life? Why did he place me in a Christian family who would raise me in the way I should go? Why me?

Sometimes it floors me how much the Lord blesses me even when I spend so little time thanking him or being his hands and feet. What does it look like to live with reckless abandon in pursuit of God?

Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction? ~ Hosea 13:14

Great is HIS faithfulness!