It was 2014 and I'd been away from my blog for far, far too long! Where had I been so long? Encountering almost 2 years of surprises since I'd last written.
1. Early 2013, my former team of coworkers in PNG asked me to make a trip back to liquidate/ship my belongings. My plan was to graduate from SBTS in 2014 and then go, to work for a year and decide after that if I would need to "go finish" (sell things and leave indefinitely or for good), but there were no options presented for continued storage, so go I did, in a gesture to serve the team there, in their timing, not mine.
2. I survived that season of simultaneously working with clients in crisis, finishing out my semester of master's degree studies, raising funds for the trip and planning a trip and itinerary that included ground transport from Louisville to Indianapolis, flights from Indy to Toronto, Toronto to Hong Kong, bus tickets to China, Train tickets to Hong Kong, Flights to Port Moresby, Madang, Goroka, Port Moresby, Hong Kong, Ferry to a Hong Kong Island and back, flights from Hong Kong to Toronto to Indianapolis, and a ride home to Louisville. Whew!
3. My church gifted me with an incredibly generous portion of the cost of the trip and my housemate Kelly joined as my travel companion and assistant. I don't know what I would have done without her!
4. Were I to list all the surprises of that 6 week trip, we'd be here all day! But my greatest surprises were seeing God meet my needs in amazing ways, even if it meant my need for transportation came through a truck with no power steering, one so hard to maneuver that I fractured ribs in my determination to turn in a tight spot! Yes! And each subsequent drive was a mingle of joy and pain. I had a vehicle to drive and didn't have to depend on or burden others to get me places. But, "Ouch!" every turn of the steering wheel hurt!
I had surprise helpers that came along at just the right time: Steve, Sandy, Philip, Seong, Mina, and Rhoda. Even though my household had been packed in a container for 7 years, it was still "home." I was surprised at the grace God gave to scatter many precious things I had used to "feather" our family's nest. He brought just the right people that I wanted to bless with my items, things that had many precious memories, wedding gifts, favorite cooking pots, sewing machine, gifts my husband had given me, his LIBRARY, etc.. "Grace," however, did not mean that I did this without shedding tears!
Who would God provide to share a visit to my late husband's gravesite who would understand my heart? God led me to the perfect person, a former student, Kristen, also widowed at a young age. We encouraged one another as we "storied" (as we say in PNG) together about our husbands and their home-going. We cried, prayed, and visited the Dave's burial site together.
5. I deepened friendships in China and had surprise opportunities to share the confidence I have in life because I am never alone, but have the faith that God is with me, guiding and sustaining me. I have peace and not constant worries whether I'd succeed or fail in life as if it were all up to me.
6. After I returned from my trip, I experienced several months of debilitating eye strain and pain. I had suspected an infestatation of mold in the house, so that began about a year process of finding ways to eradicate it and a continuous maintenance process to stay on top of it; but, at last, the eye issues boiled it down to an incorrect new eye-glass prescription and a new dry eye condition.
7. I finished my graduate work well, in May 2014, with God gracing me with very good scores on some very difficult final papers and a fun celebration with family and friends.
8. Surprising new friendships in the local Arts community led to taking time to be creative once again! Due to so much positive feedback on my "Embarkables" and "Beleafables" designs between July and August, I started up an art business and new ministry platform called Created Wonder Designs. The "Embarkables" are immaginative uses of bark, roots, and other natural or fibrous materials to embellish recycled bottles and containers. The "Beleafables" are items of nature sculpted and crafted out of lotus and other leaves and photo-edited into a variety of colors, like the one above.
Some of the surprises above seemed good and were welcomed, some seemed not so good and were unwelcomed, but I'm thankful that my God is sovereign over both in my life, so that even the unwelcome, when I received them, in trust, with open hands, drew me closer to my heavenly Father and became blessings in disguise.
