"Green Leaf in Drought" & Transitions

The title of this entry is the title of a book I have just finished reading. Written by Isobel Kuhn, from original letters & transcripts, it tells the story of the missionaries with CIM (now OMF) unable to leave their station in the early 1950s. The story was both encouraging and challenging. One of the challenges was that God showed this couple that He didn't just want them to "get through" the difficult time, submitting to the will of God, but to delight in His will.

So what does that mean for me. Well, as I face an uncertain future, first I need to remember that it's only uncertain for me. God knows exactly what is going to happen, and I can trust Him to do what is best for me, and for His glory. The second thing, is that I still have about 9 weeks of school days to get through before I move on, and I need to do that in a way that brings glory to God.

As I attended church this afternoon, this message was confirmed through the message brought by our guest speaker who spoke on "Transitions". In considering the model that she used, along with a passage from Numbers 11, I know that I am at the beginning of a major transtion, and that's not an easy place to be, especially when you do not know what/where you are transitioning to. The good thing is that I am confident that God knows what I'll be transitioning too, and that I can trust Him to provide for me. I am also confident that God will be with me through every step of the transition, and know that He will give me the physical, spiritual and emotional strength to finish this school year to His glory. I cannot do it in my strength. If it were up to me, to finish the year on my own, I'd be quitting right now, but it's not up to me, and so I continue on, knowing that it will be His strength that gets me though and desiring above all that He will be glorified through these last weeks and days at Logos.

As I consider this transition, acknowledging the hurt that I've experienced, and the growing that I need to do, I'm seriously considering attending a retreat in Thailand to help me work through some of the issues surrounding this transition. It is 10 days at a "resort" just outside Chiang Mai, and is run by Christians, specifically for Christians serving in cross-cultural ministry. To find out more about it, have a look at the website: http://www.heartstreamresources.org/index.php and go to Refresh Thailand. God has put this in my heart, and I believe that He is leading me to attend. He has already provided a substantial part of the registration cost, and I'm trusting Him to provide the rest. The plan would be to return to Australia in early June, for about 4 weeks (maybe a little less), and then fly back to Thailand to attend this retreat, and from there to go to whereever God has called me next.

It has been great this weekend to be able to relax, do some shopping, spend time on the internet & reading, all without feeling guilty, because I know I have 3 days to get done the things that need to be done for school for the rest of this week, and the beginning of next. Quite frankly that's huge. The quarter officially ends on Friday this week, and that means report cards have to be done to go out the following Friday. In order to write the report cards I absolutely have to get a stack of papers/reports/portfolios graded. Oh boy. Is three days going to be enough. Then on Thursday or Friday this week I have a formal observation by the Elementary Principal, which means that I need to do a more detailed lesson plan than I might otherwise. In addition to that, I'm supposed to have observed 5 of my colleagues during the course of the school year, and completed an "observation" form on each of them. I've done one! So next Monday, I have a very special lady coming in to teach my class for the morning, while I get all those observations out of the way. Thank you JB.

On that note, I think it's time I closed this post, and started thinking about bed. The air-conditioning will be welcome. Typing on this computer is a hot job, even with the ceiling fan on. Thanks to those who are reading this. I'm sure I've given some of you plenty of fuel for prayer as well.

Karen