God has blessed me beyond what I could have imagined. In between snippets of time with friends and family and co-workers, I've also been working and started back up at school. Most of May was with InterVarsity at a camp in the Adirondacks - working on-call and leading small groups and work crew. It was an incredibly busy time but also truly blessed. Spending a life truly focused on God and His glory, and worshipping with hundreds of other believers with that heart really was incredible. And as I pushed myself to the limit I realized exactly where that limit lies, and how important it is to rely on God for everything. It is in my own weakness that I am truly strong.
Come mid-June I headed over to New Hampshire, where I'm the full-time camp nurse at a lakeside Christian camp. I still get to take care of kids, but it's a little different here. They all speak the same language as me. We don't have spontaneous dance parties. Most of them are the same color. I don't get peed on as much. Most of them grew up knowing that they are loved.
They're still kids who need care and love, but are already privileged beyond what they will ever know. There is clean water, and food, and vaccines, and medical care. And while there is still the sadness of broken homes and unloved children and sickness sometimes, there is not the constant tragedy of the poor, the broken and deformed, the outcast, the discarded child. And while my heart still breaks, it's not the constant and overwhelming crush of pain.
I'm still asking God every day why I'm not in Africa. When I will get to go back and pour out into a people that still need to know they are not forgotten. Whether I will be back on the big white Mercy box as a constant and living expression of His love for the lost.
But for while I'm here, let me live that love for these kids. This staff. These co-workers. This family.
You were so appreciated this summer! I love you! Thank you for loving on me and my poor broken fingers!
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