BE - I too this photo at an outdoor book market in Paris. Through 2020, many have learned about being rather than doing as we've been in and out of quarantine, shutdowns, and lockdowns. Exploring and adventure doesn't always mean traveling somewhere, join me as I blog and explore!
lauren's musings
Blogging + exploring
WOW! Peru, To think that I have been back in Ukraine for a week and a half. It was an incredible journey, and the friendships I have built with those on the trip were truly unexpected.
There’s always a fear I have of language, that I will not be able to communicate clearly or well enough to build a true relationship. I suppose all my years of international friendships should prepare me for that, but it still never ceases to amaze me that love can be shown without a mastery of language. That a photograph can speak a universal language, and that continues to prove itself true.
Peru was one of the most difficult things i have ever done. Yes, we completed the inca trail! Before leaving a friend of mine said, you don’t have to be first… just second to last, and I chose to live with that mindset. Rather than tiring myself to the point of exhaustion, I went at a slower pace, enjoyed the scenery and the company along the way.
Back in Ukraine over a week now, I have so much more to write, and I will as time moves along (most of it is written down already!) but more than anything in Peru I learned that obedience is most important.
Yesterday, i found myself discouraged about much of the time here, because while i’m having the time of my life, I wonder where all this “fruit” that i felt i would see is hiding.
At the right time, I read Isaiah 49:3-7
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
5 And now the Lord speaks—
the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
and my God has given me strength.
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7 The Lord, the Redeemer
and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
– – – –
And when this trip is done, I realize that’s what matters. I am changed. There is so much to write, but I’ve got so much to
and i will live tyt (here) while i am.
Faithful to the end.
L
