The past two weeks have been pretty crazy. First I had to deal with the deal of my granddad, and then the day after his funeral I had to drive back home, only to fly out to Charleston the next day for M-Fuge. And after all the craziness of the previous week, something I had been really looking forward to I suddenly started to dread, but the week of camp proved to be exactly what I needed. It was such a huge blessing to work with children from lower income families and God taught me a whole lot. I felt convicted about things I need to really work on here at home. 

I had such mixed feelings about coming back. While sleeping in my own room and returning to my family and friends all sounded very ideal, leaving new friends and those kids behind was not what I wanted either. But that's the way it goes. My mission field in Charleston was meant to only last that one week... for now... I don't know what the future holds. I may never go back or I may move there one day, who knows? But right now, my mission field is right here, and I have to admit I've been failing pretty miserably at treating as such.

It's hard to not be "normal". It's so much more comfortable to live life your own way than God's way, but it's not worth it at all. I'm sorry Joel Osteen, but the Bible I read says I will go through trials and times of trouble, but to rejoice in all circumstances and to know that God always has a purpose that surpasses anything as shallow as how I feel. He'll give me the strength I need for those times as well. 

So that is not to say I am going to have to ship off to Africa or live on the streets. I may very well spend all my days as a middle-class citizen in the surburbs with my husband, 2.5 kids, picket fence, and dog. But whatever I do, God will give me the desire. Sometimes it'll be easy, and sometimes it won't, but the important thing is that I focus on Him everyday. 

Anyhow, I guess that's enough rambling for now. By the way, I thought I'd add, for those of you who are reading the imported version of this on Facebook, that I caved and added a couple extra applications. Yeah, it pretty much kills me inside, but I was very tasteful about it (the "where I've been" map appears after my wall, at the very bottom and very uninstrusive, and the ribbon awareness has one ribbon and is nicely set to the left side) and I just thought they were worthwhile. And none of you should have gotten an invite to add these applications. So if you're into applications: be selective, discreet, and tasteful. Having 20 of these things stuck in the middle of your profile is a little obnoxious. That's all for my public service announcement. Thank you. :)