Embracing the Mystery
So it’s official…this week I head from South Africa though Botswana to Zimbabwe…
It is very serial at the moment. This is what I have been ‘waiting’ for and now that it is hear I feel more stressed that I thought I would…there are many logistics that need to be ironed out. When I got back from KwaSizabantu I moved to another home since the grandma whose room I was using returned. I thought I would just be away for a week but now I will stay here at my Pastor’s brother’s house until I leave. On Monday, I need to ‘surrender’ all my belongings except a small carry-on bag so that my co-worker from Zimbabwe can take my things across the border on Friday. I will leave Thursday (the day my SA Visa expires) with my WONDERFUL friend from Zimbabwe who lives in SA and is visiting family. We will leave only by 3pm so we will travel to Botswana to her family for the weekend to avoid travelling in the dark. The car will have her two young kids (which I love to death) and her domestic helper and ALL of their things so my luggage space is limited.
Once in Zimbabwe, I may stay with the founder of Family Impact or I may go to the new family who has agreed to host me. I have never met them but when I asked a Zim friend who I could live with and who could help me learn Ndebele this family offered their ‘services’ to me!
It is a time of transition. I think more than anything it is a season of “embracing the mystery”. I was explaining my life the other day to someone at home and she responded “That sounds stressful!” OH! I thought, that is what I am experiencing! I had not really allowed myself to be “stressed out”. I mean, I am a Missionary …I can use duct tape to fix anything and can happily eat hairy Goat… who am I to get stressed…
The past 3 months in SA have been the greatest time of ‘training’ for being on the International Mission Field that I could ever have experienced and I know this was the plan that God had for me all along. I think I am finally starting to surrender almost 100% to Him (okay so maybe like 90%- but I am on my way!) So I just read a fellow Missionary blog and saw how she is “Embracing the Mystery” and I think I will start to do the same. You see after living at 7 different homes in 3 months and having no transport, having to rely on others for soooo much, there is this part of me who would just like to be “in control” for just a few days! BUT, I continue to see that this desire to have control which is imbedded deep in us Westerners does not serve me at all…it just stresses me out! J
So here I go…EMBRACING THE MYSTERY…relinquishing control(as much as I can) and waiting for God to tell me the next move to make and how to make it. I kinda feel like I am at the edge of an open airplane door ready to jump the countdown is happening 3………..2……….1…………GO!
Here’s to waiting for God to tell me when to pull my parachute string!
Justine, think of it as 'good' stress and it will help you get through it!
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"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
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Mom, I love that the author of this is quote is a powerful woman who brought about change and was passionate and dedicated to what she did!
(from Wikipedia) Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. March 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves[1] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.
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