Oh yeah, I forgot. I have a blog

I just got back from my third short-term mission trip this year. It’s been amazing to see the different things God does in my heart each time. He’s expanded my perspective far beyond my peripheral vision this year and I know life will never be what it was before the time spent in Peru and the Dominican Republic in 2011.

Each time I’ve returned I’ve discovered that pieces of my heart stay behind. No part of my personal or professional life has been immune to God. There are pieces of my heart scattered around the Amazon jungle, Pucallpa, Peru, and now Santo Domingo, DR.

I’ve seen my life become more generous, sensitive, and compassionate over the last six months. The things that seemed so important before now pale when I think about the people I know in other countries who live on much less and have much more joy than I do. I think of the children in the Shipibo village who have never seen a car, an electric socket, or a faucet of running water, and yet they smile and laugh with fullness of life. I think of my friends in Pucallpa who deal with extreme heat, massive rainstorms, limited finances to do the work God has given them to do, and yet they serve and love with all of their hearts without complaining. He’s broadened the scope of my heart through getting to know these beautiful new friends.

My most recent trip, however, hit me personally in a way that I wasn’t expecting or prepared for. I’ve wrestled a lot this year with trying to understand God’s plan for my life when it comes to my heart and its desires (am I going to be single forever?), and I have to be honest in saying that I’ve often doubted that He knows what He’s doing and that He’s in control. I’ve felt forgotten by Him. Even as I’ve seen Him broaden my heart for the world and its people, I’ve felt like its deeper desires have been ignored. But my few days in the DR reminded me that God can and will do what I am not expecting when I am not expecting it and that the most important thing I can do with my daily life is to seek Him first. He allowed my heart to be touched deeply by someone in a way that it hasn’t been for a long time and it was a sweet thing. He reminded me that He sees my heart and He has good plans for my life, far beyond anything I could think of or imagine. What I learned in the DR is that God can do the unexpected, He is fully aware of the desires of my heart, and He can be trusted completely with a future that I cannot see.

So here I am today. I’ve transitioned somewhat back into normal life as it was two weeks ago before DR. I’ve gone back to work, gone grocery shopping, cooked for the first time in a week and a half, talked through some things with a very dear friend, and my body is slowly remembering to sleep according to Mountain Standard Time again. Life must go on even when pieces of my heart stay behind. That’s one thing I’ve learned through the years.

I have no idea what God's plans for my life are but after last week, that's ok. In fact, now I think that the not knowing might be the best adventure of all. I believe with all of my heart that He is good and can be trusted with every dream, fear, desire, and longing that I have. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Pero, mi amor, un parte de mi corazon esta en RD contigo. Gracias para los abrazos y las conversaciones y la musica. Te extrano mucho y no te olvido. Cuando estas listo para una buena mujer, llamame :)