Redeeming My Limits - Part 2

I'm grinning slightly at the irony that surrounds writing this entry. I've been planning to write on this subject for a while now. Up until Tuesday it was going to be a retrospective piece. In this second part of "Redeeming My Limits" (read Part 1 here), I was going to reflect on how God had used my limits to teach me about accepting sudden redirection and how He had redeemed the disappointment I experienced with my back injury over the past five years.

To sum up, I was going to tell the tale of how the change of my summer plans led to an unexpected internship, which turned into a job which led to the freelancing journey that placed me in the path of Speedy. Eventually Speedy recruited me to work at Glorieta - the amazingly beautiful piece of New Mexico where my dreams of wrangling in the wild west were fulfilled. My time at Glorieta in turn and quite unexpectedly led me to my current job where I use the skills that I learned in that unexpected internship and subsequent job. The skill with which each of those threads was woven is incredible. It was a tumultuous journey at the time, but the view looking back is incredible.

It is that view that allows me to grin as I write that my trip to Ecuador was canceled on Tuesday. Seemingly out of the blue, Samaritan's Purse has decided to close their base in Ecuador and thus is canceling all of the trips they had planned to send there. After I got the call on Tuesday, I kept asking myself if it had really happened or if I had dreamed it. This process seems so easy for other people - they sign up for mission trips and they go on mission trips. However, this is the second time I have received a resounding "no go" after following God's leading to sign up.

Here is where I come to the complexities of what I feel versus what I know. The feeling part is quite disappointed and wants to pitch a small fit about "my" mission trips. However, deep down I know that they are not mine to begin with and am prompted to take a look at the intricate tapestry behind me. The same loving Father who wove those threads is at work here too. And so, in the midst of the dark threads of disappointment, there is also a glittering thread of hope. The trail has turned, but that does not mean that the adventure has ended, it just means that it will look different than expected. And, if recent history is any indication, the unexpected can be quite exciting.  And so we journey on...

P.S. I'm still looking for an international missions opportunity between now and April... if anyone has any ideas, let me know!