Experiencing Pain

So, I have been mulling over several things this week. We are still prayerfully considering other countries our agency works with. We haven't come to any conclusions, but we are open to all of our options.

Daily, I think about what we were expecting from Vietnam and try to move past that, try to prepare for where God is taking us. I know this will take time, but it is hard to let go of a dream that we nurtured for 15 months to 2 years.In the midst of dealing with this, we heard Donald Miller speak at a conference put on by Scott's company. Miller spoke Friday night, and he spoke about story or narrative and how we are living a story. He said a couple of things that still echo in mine and Scott's minds. He said that in a narrative the only way to change your character is to put them through pain. Well, I think we have that element. He also said that when the character is going through pain they are living a "page turner." I think we have that too; we have a whole gaggle of people expectantly waiting for the next page of our story - including us. Another thing he brought up was closed doors. He said, "When you get to a closed door you don't give up, you knock it down. If you say that you want to raise Godly children and they decide to smoke pot, you don't say, 'Oh well, God closed that door.'" (This was one of my favorite lines. Along with another about how women's eggs talk to them, and we should listen to our community.)

Scott and I both identified with a lot of what Miller said. Vietnam didn't work out, but that doesn't mean we give up and say that door is closed. It is hard and painful to let go of Vietnam, but that means something is happening. There's more coming; we are getting to the climax. We think Miller would agree that Scott and I are in the middle of our own page-turner, so stay tuned, more is yet to come. :)

Waiting for "O" the Cirque de Soleil show