The Follower: It's good to be 'home'

After an eventful week I am back home, safe and sound in Lichinga! The great news is, my visa has been approved- I am now able to stay in Mozambique til January next year!!!

I’m in awe of how God has worked through this whole situation. While I was worrying and lacking in faith and confidence that this would work out, God was working His plan. In a very cool way! He showed me the strength of unity and the reality of what being a part of the body of Christ means. I am so grateful to Riverton (and beyond) for praying for me in this situation with the visa. The prayers did not go unheard!

I’m learning that it’s not all about me either. I really let myself believe the lies that I must not belong here and that this opportunity is being taken away from me because I don’t deserve it/am not good enough. Such silliness! Ultimately, God can use anyone to do His will. The fact is, He has provided me with this opportunity, and I have no need to doubt that. I can be confident knowing that while I may not be perfect for this task here, God will equip me and give me the strength to handle whatever these next 6 months may bring. (And I am praying that involves some sort of fast Portuguese language acquisition skill or something!!)

So if I’d not been accepted into Mozambique again would my outlook be different? Man, I hope not. Thank God it wasn’t in His will (at this point). But I am learning through this that God actually truly and deeply loves us and has a plan for each one of us. If this had been the end of the Lichinga plan- well, it would just be the start of another phase of life, seeing where God leads...

but i don't need to worry about that, because YAY i have a visa :)

So going back to what I’ve been up to this past week….well, on Monday we found out I could possibly still get a visa. On Thursday I was on a plane and met up with my cousin and her husband who live near where I had to go. They very kindly let me stay at theirs on short moments notice. The next day my parents flew in- the first time they’d been back to their home country in 20 years! It was such a blessing being surrounded by loving family during this time. The visa business was sorted very quickly on the Friday and I was then able to enjoy a bit of an unexpected holiday with family (including an Aunt, Uncle and my other cousin) who had made the trek up to see my parents and I. We had a great time, saw lion cubs at an animal park, went to the local game reserve, did a bit of shopping, and mostly caught up on the past 20 years.

I then flew back yesterday and spent a night in Maputo. The people I stayed with were fantastic and it was an encouragement to hear the ministries they’re involved in.

Today I flew into Lichinga, and was greeted very warmly by Kath, Syd, Jack and Tilly. It was so nice to see their happy friendly faces again and before too long (about halfway through the car trip when a motorcyclist almost decided to get killed by oncoming traffic) I felt back at ‘home’. Almost like I’d never left…

So that’s it folks! That’s one challenge…now for the next adventure J Thank you for being on this journey with me.