Joyful

May 1^st is Thursday…crazy! In just 8 weeks, we’ll have hit the “1 year” mark back in the US, and just like time did in Spain, it feels like it just flew, flew, flew. Our adjustment back to the US was difficult in the beginning (like any other person adjusting to a new culture would say). The lack of sidewalks in our town made me sad and frustrated. Open patios and terrazas with kids playing and enjoying life are fewer here than on previous Spanish soil. But as time passes, you re-adjust to the culture, except this time, Spain had made a more permanent imprint on our hearts. It wasn’t just the culture that we missed – it was the people. I missed being a part of their lives. Our kids at ECA especially, I longed to be there day to day.

Ministering to and serving these kids and the Spaniards that we interacted with provided the most joy that is really hard to capture in words. While the joy we have now is strong and ever present, God developed it in our hearts bit by bit while we were. When you transition from one loved place to another, you will always miss the culture that you leave behind for various reasons. You begin to constantly compare and develop preferences of things of a culture you like and things that you dislike. And honestly you could spend all your time dwelling in that world of compare, likes, dislikes, and “just getting by”, but for us, God pressed us to see past just “surviving” and serving our 2 year term, but to invest in the relationships he desired us to make. And that is when the joy came. God has shown me that it is when I see his sovereignty in my life and in connection with his will, things he asks me to do is not dependent on my success but HIS! He desires for us to be faithful in what he calls us to do. It won’t be easy at all times. It will be uncomfortable, unconventional, and unnatural at times, but it is always the best thing for us.

I had someone tell me the other day that they could just see the joy and passion in our faces and demeanor for returning to Spain. I pray that God continues to fill my heart with even more joy for Spain, his people there, our co-workers sharing Christ with the nations, and their kids that we desire to encourage – not for the recognition of what we did in Spain but what He did through us.