Feeling slightly better

Tonight I’m tired and still feeling pretty darn yucky, but praise God, much better than the previous 55 hours.  Of these, I have spent over 30 hours sleeping and only 5-6 hours out of my physical bed.  Thanks to some Oral Rehydration Salts from the clinic (thanks Janie for bringing them to me), strict adherence to the BRAT diet (all my peds nurses would know what I’m talking about), and some good ole imodium, I am keeping water and food down now….ok, well toast, some noodles, and a banana, but we all have to start somewhere.  And this is where I am now.  So now that I am pretty close to be rehydrated, the fever is gone, and I’ve actually eaten something, I have a little more energy and am going stir crazy.  I’ll probably lay pretty low tomorrow as well, but I think it was just something nasty and viral I picked up from the little ankle biters….thanks a lot children.

 

Anyway, I wanted to share a few thoughts from my quiet time at Macaneta last weekend, where it was actually quiet and restful.  Most of the time it’s so noisy here I can’t hear myself think, much less completely focus on what God’s telling me.  While most of my transitioning here is starting to not be as noticeable to me (I’m comfortable in the job part, I’m learning the language slowly but getting by, culture shock isn’t too bad, I’ve settled into my physical home, and the community), but the hardest part is going from a community it took 4 years to build to being here and learning to build it all over again.  I think I just forgot how hard it was and how much I thrive out of community the tight knit kind where I’m truly sharing my life and walk with others that are praying for me, walking it with me, and lifting me up.  It takes time to get to that place, but I need it here more than anything and the support of friends and family 8500 miles away has been amazing and has meant a lot to me.  Without it, this would be impossible, but it doesn’t replace what I need here.  And I see it.  It’s starting to form, it’s just slow, and hard, and I’m being impatient.  I know that our Heavenly Father is with me and can and is giving me the strength I need daily.  He is my wisdom and provider and my stronghold.  He speaks mostly to me in song lyrics, quotes, and scripture.  These 2 I’ve been coming back to:

 

 

I will not take my love away

When praises cease and seasons change

While the whole world turns the other way

I will not take my love away

 

I will not leave you all alone

When striving leads you far from home

And there’s no yield for what you’ve sown

I will not leave you all alone

 

I will give you what you need

In plenty or in poverty

Forever, always, look to me

And I will give you what you need

I will not take my love away.

-lyrics by Matt Wertz

 

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in ALL the work of your hands.  He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God HAS been with you. You have lacked nothing.”  -Deut 1:7