I have been itching to blog for so long, it seems, and I really have no reason as to why I haven't...I've had plenty of time here and there to come up with something. BUT! Hello, friends! Welcome back into my crazy life! That's right, it's crazy. Let me give you a little update....
Alright. I don't even know where to begin...well, I'm home! I'm spending this semester back home in the lovely town of Flower Mound, working and taking a break from school. Big change. My time home has been pretty interesting. Ha. Through its upsides and downsides, I have really been encouraged by the Lord.
I've enjoyed being back with my family! Not only am I spending this semester back at my house, but my brother, David, is also home again. He graduated from UNT this summer (WOOHOO!) and is in search of a teaching job. Too bad our education system is pretty awful right now...but anyways, my parents went from being empty nesters to having their two youngest back at home! We are all busy with our own stuff, but it is really nice when we can all actually hang out together, even if it's just watching an episode of Modern Family (LOVE it.), or eating a meal together. (I've realized that I am super blessed to live in a household that has always made a point to eat supper together as much as possible. Go Mom and Dad!) Living at home again can also have its downsides: Dave and I are both used to living on a "college schedule," coming and going as we please, doing stuff on our own, etc. So, we've both been adjusting to living back under our parents' roof. We may be young adults, but Mom and Dad still have the say-so in what goes on in their house.
I think the most difficult part of taking the semester off is being away from my community. I went from having really intimate, Christian community while in Russia, to having very little support and very few friends nearby. My family is great, but they're only fun for so long! I miss my friends in Lubbock terribly; there's not much else to be said about that. I miss all things Cru: the big meeting, worship, ministry, and discipleship group. And I miss my home church! There's not a church like Redeemer around here, although there are plenty of awesome churches. It's been an adventure navigating through this season of life, trying to figure out how to plug in to things temporarily, without feeling half-hearted. In addition, I miss being in school. (Strange, right?)
I have been able to find a nice church to attend while here in DFW, and I work with really awesome people. (Seriously. I love The Container Store!) And I have some fun and encouraging people scattered here and there in the Metroplex that I can spend time with. It's been nice to see my bestie, Julia, at TCU, have coffee with the lovely Kesslie Gilbert, and giggle and talk about life with Mrs. Lori Montgomery! (Y'all are great!) Not to mention, several weekend visits from Brent have significantly brightened up my time here. I don't know how he can stand driving that far in a not-so-fuel-efficient pickup truck...I guess he likes me or something... :) God has definitely provided for me, and I'm very thankful.
So, want to hear the crazy part of my life as of late?? It is quite vexing and has been pretty darn aggravating to deal with. So, apparently I have some sort of mystery affliction, which is causing me to occasionally become lightheaded and feel like passing out. I get tunnel vision, my hearing becomes muffled, sometimes I feel like I'm gonna barf, and I usually have to go sit down somewhere so I don't, you know, faint and hurt myself. At any rate, it's not something I have enjoyed enduring. I will be going to my third doctor's appointment next week, and hopefully it will be more conclusive than the last two. It's a frustrating thing, and I want it to be fixed so my life will return to normalcy. Talk about having to trust that God has everything under control. There isn't anything I can do about it yet, so I'm leaving it up to Him to take care of me, and He always does.
Speaking of God, I really love Him! :) Even during the roller coaster of this semester at home, He has been so constant and so apparent in His love and provision. It's been an adjustment, after being in an environment of total reliance during Summer Project, to coming home and being somewhere "comfortable." It was easy for me to slip away from leaning on the Lord every day. However, I need Him now just as much as (maybe more than) I did while in Moscow. I'm still human and I still have a rebellious, selfish nature. Yielding to what God wants is more difficult to do when you're comfortable. I'm really glad that's a life lesson that I learned this summer. I'm still learning. I'll probably never stop learning this. It's something that I had heard many times in my life before project, but I have really experienced it now.
I've taken something else away from my time in Russia- I now find it easier to share my faith. That's not a comfortable thing to do, folks. I used to be timid about it, not wanting to offend people, or not wanting people to think I was weird. (Fact is, I am weird, so people just need to live with that.) Now, after being in a ministry setting where I shared the gospel with complete strangers, I don't find it so difficult to talk with my friends about God. Honestly, why not? He is the whole reason I exist: to bring glory to Him and to show people His love. I want to have real relationships with people, not just be another superficial friend, with which our society is filled to the brim. If I can't share the biggest, most important part of my life with someone, I'm not being me. And how can I expect them to be real with me if I'm not real with them? I want to model Christ in all I do, and that includes digging deep with people. Jesus didn't skirt around the big stuff. He taught about the important things. He got into people's business. He was real. If I can show that kind of relationship to someone who maybe hasn't experienced that before, what better way to point them to the love of Jesus? What a cool thing. :)
Thus ends my ramble. I really tend to just spill my guts out as I write. I tend to be wordy, I use lots of parentheses, and I like run-on sentences. I hope that's a good update for my far away friends, with whom I am really bad at keeping in touch. (Misty, especially, because you always ask for updates and this is long overdue.) Just remember that I very much enjoy letters and phone calls, even though I am not one to initiate. (Working on that.) And please pray for my health, that we'll soon find out what is going on and that it can be fixed quickly! Thanks, all!
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God..." -Hebrews 12:15
-Laura
