One of God's most amazing gifts is one another. While we should always learn to rely and lean on God, He knows that sometimes we need the audible voice of a trusted friend, a physical shoulder to cry on and people to rejoice with. Life's complex, its not fair, its exhausting, its sad while also being beautiful, exciting and amazing.... God gives us each other to navigate the ups and downs of this world.
Making lists of people that you are grateful for is always dangerous because you don't want to leave anyone out so I'll say now that this is not an exhaustive list... its more categorical. I've been so blessed by Pastor Bryan, the Becks, Shananon Libengood, Hannah Zappa and Dana Hunter who have encouraged me and prayed for and with me before, during and after my trip. I came to the East End two and a half years ago feeling lost and not sure about what I believed. Pastor Bryan has put a lot of time into answering my theological questions and encouraging me in my faith, he's definately given me an understanding of Northway's mission statement to "Freeing People to Follow Jesus." I'm also grateful for my small group, I loved learning about God with you weekly! My financial supporters... I was blown out of this world by your support... I was sure that I would be begging people for money up until I got on the plane but that wasn't the case. I was blessed by my home church, Pittsburgh Chinese Church, Whitehall Presbyterian, Faith Chapel and friends and family. Thank you all for your financial sacrifice, I'm humbled and challenged by your generocity. I was also blessed by the love of the local and foreign staff while I was in China (I won't name names for security reasons). Soooo many people opened their homes to me and went out of their way to make me feel loved. Northway has three families of global partners over there and I stayed with all three of them at some point. They gave me a home away from home and I'm so grateful for that. Serving in orphanages definately makes you grateful for your family. At one point I was holding an infant and the realization that that little two month old baby is in this world on their own broke my heart. Along with being supportive of my every venture, my family has always been the joy of my life, I love simply being with them. One of the families that I was staying with commented on that after overhearing a facetime conversation with my older sister. He commented that I always sound like I'm having such a good time when I call home and its true, they kept me sane and encouraged : ) DEFINITELY not least... BILL. I can't overstate how important his support has been. Not having his encouragement would have killed me. It's hard to be engaged and on two different continents.... not only did he do more than his share of the wedding planning, but he continues to patiently handle my readjustment back home. I can't believe God's given me someone that's so good to me. I'm so blessed!
All of this to say.... THANK YOU ALL!
Many of you know Sarah Briggs who has also recently returned from overseas, her and I would love to invite you to hear more about what God is doing globally. I'm excited to hear from Sarah, she did outreach in 11 countries this year and I know she has a lot to share! See the picture below for details:
P.S. PCC, Whitehall and Faith Chapel: you are more than welcome to attend this event, I am also in the process of speaking with your churches about a good time to come out your way as well : )
No comments:
Post a Comment