Here is what I am processing now. The hardest part about the trip was returning home and being filled with a new love, a new desire, and new spark, and so eager to share with those around. But it wasn't the same. If you have ever been on a mission trip, you might can understand where I am going with this. You try to share and you try to explain what you just witnessed, what you just experienced, and how God moved in you, but there are just no perfect words. No one truly understands, unless they actually experienced it themselves. It is kind of cool though, it is like God and you have this connection and it's like a little light that burns in your heart....you want to let it shine so bright for everyone to see, but the things of this world blinds those around you from seeing it. But it is not anyone's fault...it is just one of those things "you have to see it to believe it!"
People ask me, why did you choose Ethiopia? What made you want to go there? That is a question that I have not been able to answer either. I have no clue why I chose to go there over somewhere else. I remember explaining one time on our trip that God often reveals things that He is trying to teach to me much later than anticipated. He always shows up when I least expect it...So still trying to process the trip, I was laying out in the sun the other day reading my Bible. I opened up to Ephesians and began reading it. Ephesians 3:19 says, "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully." Keep that verse in mind as you read on. The greatest thing that stuck out in my mind about the people of Ethiopia is that they showed the love of Christ far more and far greater than I have ever seen before....that is one thing that was certain and it has stuck with me ever since. The thought of their kind spirits and humbleness has been etched in my mind and heart forever. As I was reading the book of Ephesians the other day, God revealed to me a small piece of what He has been trying to teach me all along. "May you experience the love of Christ" (that is completely what I experienced on this trip---more than I ever have in my life! )"Though it is too great to understand fully."(God gently taught me...Jane! You are never going to fully understand my love for you...That's why you are human and I am God!) I imagine that God was chuckling at the fact that I just now realized He is fully in control and I will never understand everything. So maybe I am never going to understand why I went to Ethiopia or why God chose to send me there. But one thing is certain, I experienced the LOVE of Christ! Praise God for that!
