Preparing

2 weeks,
14 days,
330 hours...
You get the picture.... jan 15th is quickly approaching.

I wanted to give ya'll an idea of how I am preparing. But the truth is, that my efforts to prepare are just that... my feeble efforts. Just as is true of salvation, it is not the work I do, but the work God has done and is doing.
My efforts to prepare for 6 months in East Asia will always fall short. That's not to say there aren't tangible things that I should be doing to prepare - like reading and praying and packing. However, it is to say that He alone is the one who prepares us for His work. As I look back over the past 8 months since graduation, it is so clear how his sovereign hand has been working to prepare me for EA...
Let's take working in a coffee shop.I couldn't begin to count the number of time the Spirit brought Phil 2 6 ('In humility count others more significant than yourselves') to mind as I was making espresso, steaming milk, or mopping the floor. God has graciously been teaching me to serve others with a cheerful heart and to work in all things as if I am working for the Lord. And that is exactly what he had taught me to pray for many early morning on the way to work - to make my heart that of a servant, to help me serve others cheerfully and humbly, to help me to work with excellence so that He alone would be glorified.
Now onto babysitting. The Lord has taught me two major things... love and patience. Seriously, I had no clue that in 4 short months I would be so attached to the girls I "chauffer" every afternoon. I'm not a person who gets attached very easily, and here comes the Lord answering a prayer to "teach me to love people like you love people". Oh how faithful he is to the prayers of his children.
Small Group...This was one of the biggest surprises in bham! When I prayed for community in April, God faithfully provided it a week after graduation. What I expected to simply be a small group became friends. Good friends. They have shown me what it means to be part of the body of Christ. I am SO thankful for the Lord's grace shown through them. (and I will miss them dearly over the next 6 months!)

These next two weeks hold lots of things to do. There are tedious things like packing and making sure i have all the necessary paperwork. But then there are painful things like saying goodbyes. As I prepare, pack and say goodbyes, I find comfort in the grace and mercy of my sovereign savior.