One year ago today I stood on our front porch here before dawn soaking in the still morning that quietly whispered the possibilities of our new life. The feather soft mist over the hills past our wall clouded the view but not my heart. I was filled with hope, anticipation, and peace. I did not, nor do I now know why God called us here as part of our journey, but He did. I thought of Carter still sleeping in his new bedroom and the girls at home we had said goodbye to, and the one we were going to be saying hello to. I remember closing my eyes and breathing in the smell of the new African morning and the dog sitting by my side. The coffee in my hands felt weightier, different, as if I was taking a sip of the unknown. I knew we had stepped onto a different battle field, different, not new.
We knew we had been called by God and we had hurdled many mountains to follow Him here. We trusted even when nothing made sense and many doubted. But that morning and the many mornings since, we have not doubted God. We have trusted Him when marriage was hard, or the heartache of not being with our kids at home was excruciating, or the lies of the enemy abounded in our heads. It has not been easy, but it has been good. God’s sovereignty is an invisible net that is fixed underneath us as if we are trapeze artists in a circus. We feel so inadequate at times but that is when I remember He called us and therefore He will have to give us the strength, wisdom, insight, provision, and grace, to do this work that was “prepared in advance for us to do.”
This morning as I stepped out onto our front porch for the 365th time, the scenery, the smell, the air, are more familiar but still exhilarating. I was humbly moved as I thought about this past year. All that God has done and all that He is yet to do. The view this morning was much more clear, kinda like the eyes of my heart as God has led us, one day at a time. Here is to another 365 days of waking up and stepping out onto the porch of new, endless possibilities with God. Coffee in hand and dogs by my side.
