Benediction

Today was our last day at Palm Valley Church. =^(

I think that the reality that we are leaving Phoenix in a few days is finally starting to hit me, and it definitely made it hard to get through all of the good bye's today without bawling my eyeballs out in front of people. While I hate saying good bye and I'm sad to go, I think God really spoke to me through the services and my quiet time today, and I am feeling a bit more at peace.

This morning's sermon at church was about our Unstoppable Savior. One of the associate pastors spoke this morning. His name is Mark Olmos, and he happens to have done a lot of mission work with people in Japan. Coincidence that he would be speaking on our final Sunday? I don't think so. ANYWAY, he talked about how it's a fact that Jesus died and rose again, and how the power of the one who conquered the grave lives in us so we are an unstoppable force here on earth. It was a very motivational sermon, and got us all excited about going out into new territory and doing big things for God!

After church, we attended our last big youth mentor meeting and said good bye to our friends from the youth ministry. I had a hard time swallowing my tears as we all talked about the incredible things God has done through us this year, and talking about all that He has in store for our students in the future. I'm so sad we're going to miss out on all that they have planned! But everyone was so encouraging and, although I know that what we did here at Palm Valley was not for our glory, it's nice to hear people say how much we will be missed.

On the way home from the meeting, I was really struggling to keep my composure. I knew that we have so much work to do tonight to get ready for the move, but I felt that I really needed something to help keep my mind focused on the good rather than the bad side of this move. So I popped in the final DVD session of the Bible Study I've been working through by Beth Moore called The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the study that my women's small group chose to do this semester, and it has been SUCH a blessing to really dig in to what God has to say about his promises in the midst of traveling and trials. Because it was the final session of the 10 week study, Beth immediately jumped in and started talking about how much she hates good bye's, and why we all hate endings. Incredible how God can use something random like this to speak directly to you, huh? The topic of the session was how God will eventually tie everything up nicely at the end of time, but until then he is more interested in tying things together. Well, I wrote down what she said after that and am keeping it as a talisman against my sadness, and to help me get through the next few weeks as we leave the familiar and go where God's leading us.

"Any time He brings us to the end of anything, it's because there is a new beginning."

Now it's time to go and pack everything up, leave my home and my friends and everything familiar and head out to the land that God has shown us. I am confident that He will bless us there, but have no idea what that blessing will be. I'm glad those of you who read my blogs will be able to join me on this journey!

Please pray for us as we're traveling - that He would keep us healthy and safe and that we would keep a good attitude while we are trying to get established over there. I want this to be a good experience but, like Beth Moore, I hate saying good bye and enjoy being comfortable and know that I will struggle very much to stay positive when the homesickness inevitably sets in. Also pray that he will lead us into good Christian fellowship so that I can establish a good support group before James deploys in May. So much is changing and big things are on the horizon!