I'm In Awe of You...

Have you ever witnessed or heard something that just completely blew your mind and everything in the world just seemed to stop in awe? Well that's exactly what happened to me tonight. My team and I stopped to get coffee at a restaurant and did our nightly tradition of "highs and lows" for the day. I was sitting there trying to rack my brain about what mine would be. The day was awesome and there were a lot of highs but for some reason they just didn't seem that spectacular to me. Thankfully, I was next to last to go so I got to listen to the majority of what everyone else's were. When we got to Elizabeth, a woman from my 1st mission trip who is now a full time missionary here, and my teammate Rebecca, their "high" of the day is what blew my mind.

Just to fill you in, last May Rebecca met this sweet little girl, Jagoda, at the orphanage we serve at each year. Well, just a few months ago this girl was transferred to a new (and better maintained) orphanage. Since they had such a great connection, Elizabeth and another staff member at the orphanage arranged for Rebecca to be able to visit Jagoda. While visiting this new orphanage Elizabeth was able to meet one of the social workers who is very involved there. Elizabeth has such a passion for our kids at the "25th of May" and has so many great ideas for improvements for their lives. It seemed like going to this new orphanage and getting to connect with the social worker gave her even more confirmation of God's vision for her life and purpose. Long story short, the whole day and trip seemed to be in divine order. The way it all played out just let me know there is no way any of these events were a coincidence or happenstance.

I remember asking God before I left for this trip to do what He had done in previous years, which is to show me his presence and do/ show me something amazing to grow my faith. Honestly I was beginning to think that it wasn't going to happen. I've been gone for 6 days now, the trip is almost over and I didn't feel like my prayer was going to be answered. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that. I feel like God was looking at me like "Seriously Kristina? Have you forgotten who I am and what I am capable of?" 1 John 5:14&15 says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." Wow. It's crazy how quick we are to turn to unbelief when we don't see things happening for us in the time we think they should be happening.

I was literally in tears at the table when I started to tell about my new "high" for the day. God had answered my prayer in the form of somebody else's experience. My mind was completely blown at how God strategically positioned each and every one of these people to fulfill his purpose. Being able to look at the story from an outside perspective, I saw how God started LAST YEAR, and even before that really, making all of this happen. Im telling you, this was a life changing story and I hope I get to tell you it in person because I feel like my description didn't do it justice. God is always working and he has let me know through this trip just how much. It's crazy to think about the fact that the God of the universe is so invested in our life that he would reach down into what seems like a small, obscure city to do somehing MAJOR in the lives of those who have been "forgotten". My heart is overflowing with thankfulness and hope for the future of these children and Macedonia as a whole. In the words of Elizabeth "God is fixin' to do something BIG here y'all!" :)

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days