Today is the first garage sale of the season! I have collected some donations and emptied out my excess. A week ago when I chose today how's the day it was supposed to be 60 + degrees. At 7:30 a.m. it was only 35 degrees. But we are all set up and starting to get some business :)
This past month I finished with my master's degree and it's time for the next stages...
I started this post two weeks ago. Isn't that how life goes sometimes? The garage sale was a success and raised about $200. I don't know for sure but I hope to have another one on May 26th. This past weekend my parents came for a visit as I walked across the stage and got hooded in my Master's commencement ceremony.
Isn't it amazing how when you complete something in education they call it commencement? It is as if they understand that you have a journey ahead. Instead of focusing on ending your education it is proclaimed that you are now beginning anew. I have known for many months that the goal is to leave the US in the fall of 2018. It was not until this weekend when my parents visited and others said "So, when are you leaving?" that it really hit me how soon this is happening. Don't get too excited, I still don't know when I am actually leaving. Fundraising is still going well, but I have a ways to go before I can actually leave.
For now the focus is finishing life in Michigan and preparing to move back with my parents for the remaining months. I hope life in Michigan doesn't really finish, but this particular chapter is closing. It is really difficult now when people ask me, "where are you from?" Do I say Florida because that is where I was born and learned would it meant to be a follower of Christ? Or do I say Michigan because this is where I received the call and prepared for this wonderful Journey? Do I say Arizona because that is what the United States will recognize as my home? Or do I say Bohol because that is as much home as any other place on Earth?
In all honesty, I think I'll need to start saying, "God in heaven above only knows that answer." It helps me so much better to understand what Paul must have been feeling when he wrote Philippians 3, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
Right now I'm anxiously awaiting the next steps. Although it is not all waiting because everyday I am doing something that gets me closer. Some days it is as little as trying to remember to write thank you notes, but other days it's as big as triple and quadruple checking my budget or determining what needs to get shipped and when.
It is no surprise that as I prepare for the Philippines the book of Philippians is strongly on my mind...Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil 4)... I am regularly in prayer and asking others to do the same on my behalf. I have been graciously blessed with family and friends as well as strangers who are fervently praying for this journey. I am thankful to God for this opportunity, I know he is continuing to equip me, and I know that no matter what he is by my side if not carrying me through it all.
I leave you with this:
May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 115
Amen and AMEN!
