Missing Minsk and Romania

I talked to Bruce today, my traveling partner through Belarus before we joined up with Dave and Romania and my roommate for the whole trip, for the first time since we returned. We had emailed a couple of times but not talked since my return from Romania alone as he traveled onward to Turkey for several days. As I talked to him, my mind was flooded with memories of our trip and what an amazing time it was. I am really missing Minsk and Romania today. It's not quite the love and adventure of travel that I'm missing, although that sparks in me always, and I wouldn't dream of leaving my family again any time soon. It's somethingdifferent...

Here's why I'm missing Eastern Europe: I felt so close to God. Each day while we traveled, Bruce and I started our day with prayer and sharing what we thought God was telling us for the day and what we expected Him to do. At the close of each day, we huddled in our room and talked over the day, what God actually did versus what we anticipated He would do, and prayed. Every day was such a wonderful time of walking in God's presence and direction. That's what I miss. I suppose that I can't really describe how it felt. Our team was having such a good time, laughing with each other, taking in all of these experiences, and God was almost tangible to us. His discernment was given to us all the time, and the prayers that we offered up each and every day seemedeffortless and answered swiftly. Amazing.

Since I've been home, I've had moments of that same thing, and I take that as evidence that God really did a work in me during the trip. The Godly fog that I was able to walk in "over there" has stayed with me in part. However, real life has certainly taken its toll now that I'm back home. It makes me disappointed that I don't seem to have the same grasp on God and His direction for my daily activities back home as I do when I'm on one of these trips. Perhaps that's just the nature of missions and reformation work and others have experienced the same thing. I don't know. I do know one thing, however. The emails I've received with prophetic words and the confirming devotional times I've had have certainly encouraged to reach that plateau here at home as well! I knowthat's what God desires for me, and I know that's what I want, too.

More to come...