Beginning to miss this

Man, it has been a week! It is hard for me to believe I have been home almost a week. This week went by faster than the week I was away! Weird! Usually it's the other way around! Oh well!

Life back home has been exciting. I landed in the States Sunday morning after flying all night, arrived home around 3 that afternoon, and started work Monday morning...NO in between time! Everyone I tell that to about freaks when they realized what I did! Yea, I did too! =) All in all though it really hasn't been that big of a deal. In some aspects it was nice to just get back to it so there wasn't a whole lot of "what now" moments.

Two of my team members came home with some intestinal bug. Not sure what it is but they were knocked out! Kind of kept me on my toes for a day or two until I was convinced I was ok! One of them was my roomie, food sharing, close proximity, friend...yikes! But, here it is Saturday night and I have been clear! PTL! It was a GREAT trip, and when I say this it might sound like it wasn't. But, I was SO ready to be home by Sunday a.m. that I did not want to go anywhere for a while. Now that I have had a few days of being home I am starting to miss it. I am not ready to get back on a plane but please tell me you can look at that picture and not want to be there? Trust me, it is worse when you have seen it in person! Pictures just can not do the work of my God justice!

My pastor asked me to share a bit of what God taught me about Himself tomorrow in church. If you know me you know that this is NOT my thing but I do it anyway! You'd think I would be used to it by now! =) God showed me that in my weakness HE is strong. That is my inadequacies HE is made known. That in my doubts HE is made sure. I went on a Dental mission trip with a group of Spanish speakers...not even lying. I went into this unsure of how I was going to be used. I was not medically trained. I can not speak Spanish well. I am not a great speaker. My sister wrote me a note to open while I was on the trip and her verse of encouragement was this-

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

1 Timothy 4:12-14

I have heard the first part a million times. It still struck a cord that I should not let anyone think little of me because of my age or the fact that I was not trained medically or linguistically. But, it was the second part that I really had to get a hold of. That I do have gifts that the Father gave me. It is my job to use them and not forsake/neglect them. That I had to work at whatever job I had been given to the best of my ability.

Later I was reminded of what I had been challenged with when I said that I would not be able to do something. The lady I was talking to stopped me where I was and said, "the verse said NO one look down upon you because of your youth. No one! That means you can't either."

So, there is no telling what I am going to say in church. I think through it a million times but in the moment I will most likely say something completely different! But, that was one of the main things the Father showed me!