My Mission?

It has been 4 weeks since I’ve been home! Time feels like its in fast-forward. If anyone has the key to slowing it down, please let me know!

My trip FLEW by, and now even my time home as been moving in full speed. I have made the decision, commitment, resolution (or whatever you want to call it) to keep this blog going, updating on a weekly basis in order to share more of the incredible amount of things I learned and experienced over my trip, as well as personally keeping myself close to that precious time I was blessed with in Africa.

Many Mission books and devotionals talk about the time after, the “return”, to be the biggest part of the mission. One book I read said, “The real mission starts when you get home.” To be honest I just thought it was some way to pump you up for the return…

Home? Back to constant electricity and running water? THAT is the real part of the mission?

Home. Back to my friends, my loved ones and my iPhone? THAT is supposed to be the hardest part?

It didn’t make sense to me when I was there.

 I understood that it was going to be difficult to get back in the swing of things. I assumed I would miss Africa so much it hurt. However, I never saw it fit to say that the GREATEST MISSION of my mission trip was returning to a place I know, to people I know, a culture and a language I was born into.

BUT… they were right.

HOME. IS. HARD

There is no way to get my point across in words, because it only seems to make sense to me in my own head.

Here’s a shot at it though:

Think about going to the place of your dreams. A place you just KNOW you belong in. In this place you are the person you have always wanted to be. You are freed      from your fears; you are released from any bondage that holds you down. You are bold in this place and each way you turn there is a new experience calling out your name. Imagine this place to have few circumstances or things stealing your attention away from what matters. This place is filled with love and joy, and YOU get to take part in it. A place where God seems to appear to you clear as day… Just imagine.

Sure, you will experience some real trials in this place. You may get lost in order to find yourself in the way you’ve always needed to. You may get a few bumps and bruises in the discovery of the new sights, sounds and encounters you face. You may experience a feeling of deep loneliness or even emptiness in the process of being filled up by God, BUT in this place each hurtle turns into beauty, strength and another reason to have faith…

From August 13^th to November 17^th I experienced “that place”.

I spent one month in Kenya, a place that redefines “HOME” to me. I feel a sense of belonging in Kenya, and my extended time there this year truly showed me the Gaby I long to be… and in Kenya she fits in quite well.

“That place” also took the form of another African country called Zimbabwe. A place of renewal, new found hope, and serious spiritual growth. I saw God clearer, I heard Him louder, and I felt Him more intensely than ever before over the two months in Zimbabwe.

NOW… I am home.

Back to the earthly worries and distractions. Back to a place of constant business and what I like to call “Rich people problems”. Back to the same temptations, trails, and, for lack of a better term, CRAP that stared me in the face before I went to that beautiful place God sent me to.

I long to feel what I felt there. I desire to have that time I got to spend with the Lord. I dream of living the lifestyle where HE is all that matters without so many things trying to tell me different.

It’s a mission in itself, but I am on the road to discovering how to take the person I was in that place and be the woman of God I am called to be here!

Life at home isn’t easy. Life at home doesn’t feel right. Life at home is not life in Africa, but I’m on a mission…