Wow, I have been back from Romania for over a year and yet it is still an amazing, stretching part of my life. I still think about my time there almost daily and I get that heart twist every time I think about my kids there and going back. While I was there, I prayed that God wouldn't let Romania fall away, that if I was meant to go back, these children would stay on my heart. Boy did he answer!
But that isn't the the only thing my time there has done. I have grown so much since then. Honestly, I didn't have any encounter with God while I was there. I was sadly lacking in time in prayer or in the Word, but I have never before lived a life of love to quiet that extent. I truly learned about long-suffering and kindness, endurance and sacrifice of self. I didn't learn even half of what God taught me during my time in Romania. Most everything was after. Did I think God was trying to teach me something after I had to walk around for half the day with a 9-year-old's urine on my shorts? Heck no! All I could think about was laundry and shower, but it was later when I began to dive into Scripture that I connected that with taking up my cross daily. With rejoicing at trials and sorrow in His service.
I think I mostly learned about sacrifice, but I didn't realize this until I was called to practice sacrifice yet again. Every morning I woke up at 5 so that I could go to work this summer, I though about the trip to Romania I was saving money for. It is something that a life style of fasting and prayer only began to prepare me for.
I can't help but think that I got way more out of my time there than the people I was ministering to. And now, God is still teaching me, preparing me for my next trip (oh yes, there will be one, He told me so ). I can't help but be in awe of how God never does things for just one reason. Looking back, I can just begin to trace the beautiful arcs of His mercy and grace in my life.
