On Saturday, near the end of my birthday celebration with some friends, my friend Han and I went out for coffee and as we were talking and just laughing about the days events and where life has taken us I started to thank God. I started thanking Him for my wonderful friends and family, and for allowing me to live this amazingly unique life. Basically, I was thanking Him for creating me. It always amazes me to look back and to see what God has done and to see Him in everything. The last 25 years of life have sure been great! I am so eagerly looking forward to the future and to see what He has planned ahead. The following day I celebrated with some some great friends at lunch and then with some family at dinner. It was wonderful to be surrounded by the people that I love and respect.
It sure has been a while since I last wrote and a lot has been taking place, but overall all is well. God has been blessing my time at home and He has been reaffirming that this is where I am suppose to be for now. The sense of peace that I had and still have in being here is incredible. Right when I first came home, I started the debriefing process and adjustment back into American culture and into living at home. This was and has been an interesting time, but God has continued to teach me new things. I have heard it said that, "learning is a never ending process," well whoever said that couldn't be more right! I am constantly learning new things about almost everything it feels like. This definitely keeps things interesting and keeps me thinking.
Since I have been back in Illinois, I have been working in order to continue paying off my student loans and becoming a debt-free missionary. This is something that I have prayed about and thought about for a long time and God just continues to place it on my heart that paying off my loans must be done before I head out to serve long-term in cross-cultural ministry in Latin America. I have been working as a substitute teacher, babysitting, and doing a variety of other jobs to achieve this goal. God has been so good to me in this rough economy and He continues to bless me with job opportunities and last month I was even able to get a car that was affordable and reliable and that would not increase my debt. That was just an amazing surprise and answer to prayer. Having a car has allowed me to travel for work and bless others in different ways.
I won't go on and continue to write, because this post could get really long if I tried to catch you up on everything that has happened these past few months. Although, I am currently working on a Christmas newsletter that will be going out soon highlighting some events from this past year and how God has been working in my life so I hope to have that out sometime within the next couple weeks. If you would like to receive my newsletter, please let me know by e-mailing me at cd_0687@yahoo.com
Thank you all for reading! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
P.S. I updated the "About Me" page and "Pray" page if you want to check those out and see how you can be praying for me and my family, thanks.
