Forever I am changed by Your love

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this update to you! I have arrived safely back in the States, and am now experiencing some extreme culture shock! I'm spending this week working at Cross Camp and Louisiana College... just hanging out and loving on some youth kiddos! I love it!

But as far as my 5 weeks in Africa...

How about starting out with a little comedy!? Here's a picture of the sign for the women's public restroom:

I guess you could say that my personal cry the entire trip comes from a song by Meredith Andrews

“Take me through the desert places for a chance to see Your face..”
.. And I can honestly say that I’ve seen His face.
...I no longer see Christ’s love through a 21 year old Protestant girl from Louisiana.

I’ve seen so many different characteristics of God during these 5 weeks. I’ve seen Healer, Power, Light, Freedom, Understanding, Provider, Comforter, Completer, Joy… FAITHFUL.

“YOUR LOVE, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness stretches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep... How priceless is your UNFAILING LOVE!”

I wish I could express to you through words the way that I feel, but maybe these faces below can help convey my feelings:

All I know is that I am blessed.

I don’t know exactly where I am headed. I don’t know exactly when my heart will feel whole again. But God is teaching me to rejoice – if in nothing else, to rejoice in the fact that He is Lord. He knows the answers to all of my hardest questions, that He can heal my hurt. My identity does not come from where I live or what I am doing there, but from Him alone. Even when my heart is heavy, I will dance with the joy of the Lord, my Savior. “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the thought; decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled… but though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, still I will REJOICE in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet jump and dance like the feet of a deer; He enables me to climb to the highest heights.”Habakkuk 3:17-19

i cling to his promises

this is what I know: I rest with trust and faith in Him. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" And we know that God IS for us.

(I'll update more when camp is over and I have the time and energy to share stories!)