a new year, a new adventure

so long since I've blogged, and i feel like i have so much to say. for starters, this past 9 months since returning from India have been quite a struggle in many ways for me- but i understand now how God was still moving, working, and in control of it all, continuing to teach me even when i didn't want to be taught. Race season ended, thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone, and now we are about to encounter a brand new year, a new start, new beginning. I like new years, it's like waking up to God's mercies a new every morning yet for some reason I feel like on January 1st, I wake up to a little extra mercy from Him, a deep fresh breath, and lots of excitement for what's to come in the following 365 days.

But more than just a fresh year, I like to reflect on the previous one. Where God took me, what He's done in me, and through me. The ups, the downs, the tears, the laughter. And at the end of it all, no matter the struggles I've faced this year and still feel more blessed than ever. More honored and yet humbled that God picked me, called me, anointed me, and continues to do that in my life even when I just feel like laying in my bed and shedding a few tears for one reason or another.

So since the new year is approaching quite quickly now, I can't keep quiet any longer about my newest embarking that God has made available...This time I am India bound and not just that but also Kenya bound. That to me is like giving me the best sundae in town, then coming back and saying "I brought you some extra hot fudge and some sprinkles to top it off!" Not only has my heart and soul been longing to return to India since the moment i stepped foot back in America on March 7, 2011 but so have I always dreamed of going to Africa and seeing those sweet chocolate brown faces and big giant smiles all around me.

This Year God has heard my pleas to return to the place my heart longs for, and given me also a little extra hot fudge just because He loves me. Just because He likes to see me smile, Just because He wants to include me in his plan so perfect and so big. I feel blessed beyond measure, and so excited to take yet another adventure with Him. The one my heart beats for, and yet has been so desperately trying to find perfect communion with. My soul has been thirsty the past 9 months, like a lost soul in the desert desperately seeking just one drop of water to quench even a seconds thirst. It has been trying, It has been hard, but oh how I see now, that it has been worth it for one reason and one reason only...

God was there. God knew I would be there, He allowed me to walk a difficult time in what seemed like an eternity of wilderness, but He never left me, even the days i felt that he certainly had to have- He was still there reaching out to me, trying to quench my thirty spirit and I wouldn't let him. I was longing to go back in time, longing for what i once knew, longing for a place i missed, longing for a lot of things. And just simply saying No to what He has placed ahead of me, saying no to change, saying no to a new, different kind of growth. Yet He didn't give up on me, He didn't quit, He didn't turn away. He kept pursuing me with His relentless love for me.

And now, 9 months later as I feel like I am finally walking out of the wilderness and into a new season, maybe even a season of the promised land- I feel His presence, His voice, His spirit refreshing every part of me. Continuing to tell me to rest, to be patient, to accept His grace, His forgiveness, His love in its entirety.

He is so good, so faithful, so just, so real, so constant. And today I praise Him for the rough days, the happy days, the joyful days, the solemn days that this past year has held. I praise Him for choosing me to take yet another adventure to yet another beautiful land other than my own to love on His people. And I praise Him for quenching my thirsty soul day after day after day, and showing me that no matter where i search or where i hide- He is the ONLY one who can ever do such a thing for one's thirsty spirit.

He is the living water apart from Him we will never be satisfied.

Revelation 21:6 "And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment."