Packing

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I dislike packing intensely. I am in the midst of packing this morning in Seattle. I have finally figured out that it is more than trying to fit too much into too little space. It also has to do with packing signifies change in my life and sometimes that can be a little bit unnerving.

I realize that for many people packing and change means they are embarking on a new adventure and this is greeted with expectation and joy. I get to the expectation and joy eventually, however I usually have to work through anxiety and the facing of the unknown first.

It has good to be "home" in Seattle. It has also been difficult. While I have family and friends here my life isn't here any longer. At least not for now. Of course, my life really isn't anywhere right now. At least not for now. It will be eventually in South Sudan in a not too far off future and yet that will be a new place that I have only glimpsed for a brief two days earlier this year.

In the meantime I will return tonight to Louisville, Kentucky. I do have a temporary apartment there and yet my life really isn't there either. I will spend the next two months doing itineration, finishing up shopping and details for my return to Africa, catching some hours to do reading for my doctoral dissertation proposal and praying towards the journey that will take me back to Sudan in August.

I reflect more frequently on this journey that is both life and also God's vehicle for God's purposes for my life. That is, God created me for a purpose and the life that I live is the vehicle for that purpose. I was in awe at my daughter's graduation from Trinity Lutheran College this May. I saw young people whose lives have been changed by faith and academics. None of us know how God will shape our lives when we go forward to "begin" our adulthood. God has worked even in the life of Prince William who knew his role from his birth. Watching life and God's work in life unfold is an awe inspiring mystery.

There are times when I embrace this mystery more readily than at other times. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
Blessings,
Debbie