I love this quote because it could not be more true! This year, I have had the opportunity to serve. To be the hands and feet of Christ, sent to this place for a purpose. I came here to serve others, and through it I have learned time and time again what real joy is.
Real joy is serving somebody who can never repay you. Real joy is knowing that you are exactly where God desires for you to be. Real joy is living life so far beyond your comfort zone and yet feeling that that is where you were meant to be.
The life that I have stateside is wonderful. It's full of love and laughter, happiness and joy. However, this year I discovered a deeper happiness--one that came not from the quality of my life but rather from the quality of others. I learned what it means to live. I experienced what it is to love with my whole heart and live beyond myself.
The children that God placed in my life this year are young. Most under two years old. The reality is that they will not remember me, they won't know about the days we spent laughing and loving. At first, that was hard for me, but I realized something in it. I realized that the ripple affect of this love in their lives will continue on. They may not remember, but they are changed. As I go, I go with their faces forever etched on my heart, forever a part of me. Ready to share their stories and grow the number of prayer warriors lifting up their souls and their earthly lives to the ever-faithful Father.
This year, God placed young lives before me and called me to share His love with them. To hold them close, pray over them, and tell them each and every day that they are loved. In two weeks, my days with them will be over, but my opportunity to lift them up to the God who holds their lives will live on. In leaving Ethiopia, I am ever so thankful for prayer. Thankful that while I will no longer spend my days with a lap full of these beautiful children, I can spend them with my heart full of love for them praying that each of these children will find their place at the feet of Jesus.
