Coming Full Circle

Warm Sunset at Langosta Beach in Costa Rica

OK, so it isn't quite a circle, maybe more like an odd figure 8 and some, but I have ended up where I have begun, though nothing is quite the same, particularly me.  The past ten months have been a whirlwind.  They have gone so fast and a lot has changed in addition to my physical location.  After the travels in the US and then going to Costa Rica, on April 1 I flew back to Montana for a month of re-entry with Potter's Field Ministries.

 

On Day Trip to Canada

It was a very edifying time of "unpacking" and "repacking" lessons and emotions.  After the time in Montana, I drove cross country stopping in diverse locations visiting dear friends and being able to share with them to catch up on each other's lives and fellowship.

My General Route!

First stop was in Bozeman, MT to see John and Michelle Merkovsky.  It was a short overnight visit, but I was thankful to see them again!  Last time I saw them was when I drove cross country from Rochester to Montana!  Crazy how fast the 10 months had passed and how much their kids had grown.





I then went to Carthage and Joplin, MO to spend time with my dear friends, the Stearns and with Hector and Chelsea Romero.  It was soooo good to spend time with them after all the time since we had seen each other last.  They have all been instrumental in this journey that the Lord has brought me on and it was wonderful to share with them after it has pretty much come full circle.  I was privileged to share the lessons and experiences that the Lord granted me at a ladies Bible study and with the church on Sunday morning.

Paul and Beth at Braum's Ice Cream!  Yumm

Chelsea and I together again!

I then visited Jesse, LeeAnne and Tori Tomkins in Charlotte, NC.  It was so good to see faces from home, even though my road trip was barely over half way done.  Seeing Tori almost 3 years old was a bit surprising.  Amazing how much a two year old grows in 7 months!!!  I also got to see the beauty of the city of Charlotte and meet sisters in Christ.  It was also nice to go the Billy Graham Library and see the documentation of a lifetime of service to God.  It is challenging to be reminded that all that is needed from us is obedience and faithfulness, even through the sacrifices.

Tori and Aunt T

Billy Graham's Library

I then drove to Philly and stayed with Ashley, a fellow Ignite intern that I have grown to love!  On Saturday, we met with Annie and Danielle, several fellow Ignite interns, and Pastor Steve and Pastor Craig Linquist to go to a baseball game!  I even got all decked up in Phillies gear!  The fellowship was sweet, but the score abysmal, but it was soo fun.

At Phillies Game with Pastor Steve and Pastor Craig

On Sunday morning, I got to go to Calvary Chapel of Philly and then I drove to Ontario to see Margie, her mom and friend that were visiting, Leah, Aurora, Sarah and her 4 kids.

The Merkovsky 4!

Finally, I am now back in the Rochester/Webster area.  For a week, I was house sitting for my dear friends Sherri and Joel and I then returned to my Pastor Ray and Margie's house.  I have been catching up with some friends and it has been a blessing to see my local family in Christ.

I still have many that haven't been able to see yet and that I hope to see soon, but I am thankful to be here for this season.

I don't know what is next, but I am open to all possibilities and doors that the Lord may open.  Please keep me in prayer as my heart just longs to return to my brothers and sisters in Costa Rica, but I am waiting for the Lord to provide for such an adventure, when He pleases.

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
- Proverbs 16:9

During re-entry in Montana and now after all the travels within the US, I have contemplated a lot upon what the Lord has done in my these past months.  I have in many ways and over time defined a lot of my identity based on what I do.  I have also used that self-identity to see what I do as a measure of my relationship to the Lord or the assumption of how the Lord sees me.  The Lord has used my experience in the Ignite Program and my involvement with the leaders and fellow servants in Potter’s Field Ministries to stress the nature and magnitude of His unconditional love for me.  I have more deeply realized how vast the Father’s love for me regardless of what I may do or not do for Him.  My identity has become wrapped up in His love for me rather than in what I can do for Him.  I have learned to recognize the reality that has been there, revealed in His Word, all along.  He loves me whether I am serving Him or in the flesh.  I am so secure in His love, that as I lean upon Him, my natural response to His love is to love Him back with all my being and actions.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
- Romans 12:1

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
- Philippians 3:7-11 

The world advises and advertises finding oneself through much searching and experimentation, yet after all that searching, one is left empty and lacking meaning.  I have learned to find myself in Christ, to know who I am in Him.  To have a heart full of gratefulness for the amazing gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, to count all things that were gain to me, as loss.  My identity is no longer as a software engineer, though I have not lost my degree.  Neither is my identity defined in serving as a missionary.  My identity is found in Christ.  I am His child and His servant.  What I do is love Him and worship Him with all my being in all that I do, to use the talents He has fashioned me with to reach the world for His glory, and be transformed daily more and more, to be like Him.  I am His.