At church on my last Sunday in Namibia the pastor's wife asked for certain groups of people to stand up during prayer time. The last group was for anyone who wanted prayer concerning direction for 2011... for anyone who was unsure what God wanted them to do next year. I didn't stand up. I know what I'll be doing. I'll be serving God wherever He has me, and I'll be looking for even more opportunities to do so... whether it's in Maryville, TN or in other parts of the country or world. No, I don't know exactly what that looks like, but honestly--I don't care. Jesus said, "Follow me." The disciples didn't sit Him down to ask Him a million questions about what exactly that would look like. They simply followed Him. I want to be the same kind of disciple. I don't need to know anything more than who God is and that He has asked me to follow Him. To love Him. And to love others.

My emails always end with the same quote from Oswald Chambers. "Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading." That is the faith by which I live my life. Recently I thought of it this way... Let's say that you're on a hike somewhere you've never been before. You have a guide (a good friend of yours) and he's leading you along a well-marked path. There are others hiking around you. Everyone is having a great time. Then, your guide asks if you want to climb up a hill off the marked path. There's not much evidence that anyone else has even gone that way, but he insists it will be worth it. He says it might be a difficult trek, but there will be lovely surprises along the way and the view once you reach the peak on that side of the mountain is incredible. I trust my friend. He knows this mountain. I know that I can follow him and that if I just trust his directions, I will be fine. And there will be rewards by choosing this path. I'll discover things I would never see on my own if I continued on the marked path all alone. I feel like that's a parallel to my pursuit of God and His plan for my life. There are so many other paths I could choose. Some that are more clearly marked. More common for everyone else around me. But He has a path that He's chosen for me, and if I choose that path, all I have to do is simply follow Him step by step. I don't need to have it all mapped out for me. He's the guide who's already done all the work.

I was talking with a friend of mine recently about all of this. She told me that during a period of her life when she was unsure of God's plan for the next phase in her life, an image came to her mind that really spoke to her. She pictured the back of Jesus' feet. That's all she could see, as if she were looking down as He was simply walking in front of her. Asking her to follow Him.

I say all of that to say that I have a complete peace about this next phase in my life. I know that this is not my last time serving God overseas. I'll continue with short-term trips and I'm open to serving Him full-time again as well.

To be a bit more specific in how I view the next year of my life... For starters, this is the first time in my adult life that I will be living back in East TN without a departure date to leave long-term for somewhere else. After high school, I went away to college for 4+ years. Two months after I graduated God called me to full-time ministry and I started preparing to leave for Mexico. After Mexico, God called me to New Orleans. In New Orleans, He called me to Africa. So I've always been jumping straight into the next thing. This is the first time I can just go home and not have to immediately prepare to leave for somewhere else. I want to take advantage of that. I'd love to get more involved in ministry back home. I want to see what others in East TN are doing in terms of local ministry and missions. I want to help mobilize the church back home for missions. I'd love to lead short-term mission trips to Namibia, or Mexico, or wherever! There really are so many options and I will need wisdom and discernment to know where God is leading in all of those... not just where I want to go and what I want to do... or what others want or expect me to do. I want to follow God, my guide, and trust that He knows the best path for me. And I'm excited to know that I'm going to see some pretty amazing things along the way!

I'm totally up for chatting with any of you more about all this. Especially those of you who are actively involved in ministry back home, whether it's local ministry or facilitating ministry in other parts of the world. I want to check out what others are doing and find out where I can plug in. My own church is in a transition time now as they look for a new pastor. I'm looking forward to seeing where God takes FBCF in the future as new leadership comes in and new ideas for ministry start taking shape. And I'm always interested in helping others, especially young people, who are interested in missions. I have so many resources that I would love to share to get someone pointed in the right direction. And finally, a little less ministry-oriented, but I plan to take my jewelry and craft making to the next level. I like to say "to support my spontaneous lifestyle". :) If all goes as planned, I'll open an actual business for this and see where it goes. I know that God gave me this talent and I want to use it for His glory, both to support myself and free myself up for ministry (instead of being forced to get a "normal job"... not my personality!). I'll also use that platform to continue raising awareness for the causes that I'm passionate about. So I'm excited for that endeavor... and I've got loads of new design inspirations since living in Africa! :)

Please continue to pray for me as I transition back into life in America. I don't really see myself going back and completely settling there. But I'd like to base myself out of East TN for a while and see what happens. I know I'll be traveling around a lot for this and that, and hopefully I'll be able to get around to see many of you. Several of you have asked me to come to your church and tell about my time in Namibia. I would love to! So just shoot me an email if you're interested in that, especially if I spoke at your church prior to leaving for Namibia.

Thank you for your constant support. So many of you have been an encouragement to me as I began the process of closing out my time here. That is huge confirmation that I'm in God's will as I leave Namibia and begin this new part of my journey.

So stay tuned! I have a feeling that some exciting new adventures are just around the corner! Where He leads me, I will go...