Halfway Point

Today marks the halfway point of my term. I can't believe it! Part of me feels like I've lived here forever...like I can't imagine life in America anymore. But part of me feels like it was only yesterday that we left Virginia, that I got on the plane after saying goodbye to my family, that I said goodbye to my best friend at her wedding reception. It's hard for me to grasp how much He has taught me and done in my life in this past year. He has brought me leaps and bounds beyond what I could've ever imagined! I'm a completely different person today than I was July 26, 2010, standing in the dark with a group of people whom I had never met (minus one) and wondering what exactly those next 9 weeks of training and the next 2 years of my life would look like.

Some of the major lessons of this past year:

Community is VALUABLE and RICH
Prayer is POWERFUL
The Holy Spirit is POWERFUL aka RESURRECTION POWER
His grace is sufficient
He walks with us through every fire and every storm
I am His, and nothing can change that
The enemy trembles at the sound of His voice, and he cannot do anything that's more powerful than God.

He has also taught me a lot of humility (pretty much on a daily basis), a lot about faith and belief, and a lot about dependence/abiding in Him. What an amazing year it has been! A lot of hard, hard lessons. A lot of dark valleys. But also a lot of refining, rejoicing, and seeing His hand at work! He has brought me so much closer to Him this past year than I ever have been before, which has been awesome! I'm excited to see what He does in the coming year! May His kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven!