I am going on a trip and this is all I have packed so far. Typical. A journal and my passport. But the words and adventures that will fill that journal and that stamp they will put in my passport are what I'm looking forward to most, I think.
It is rare for me to have exciting news to share, so lately I have been wondering how to tell people my news.
Do I let it come up naturally in the conversation?
Is it the first thing I say because I cannot contain my inward excitement though on the outside I am calm?
Is there a bad way and a good way to tell people?
What if I am sharing good news and my friend has only bad news? Do I have a right to share my happiness?
Is there an art to sharing "biggish" news?
Is this just another thing I am overthinking?
Yes, I am overthinking it. While overthinking is great for writing it is not usually good for life.
So I decided to do what I wanted.
I kept the news to myself for a while, a special secret only I knew. Then I told a few close friends, one with a sudden burst of excitement, another in an email with other things.
Then I slowly expanded and told people as I so wished.
And now I am telling you; In about three weeks I am going on a missions trip to Medellin, Colombia!
I am very excited about this trip for many reasons:
1. I have always longed to explore new places, especially different countries. In high school, though I wanted to travel and had an opportunity to travel internationally, I wasn't ready. In college, I was ready, but I didn't feel like I could ask people for money to go on a trip that was purely educational. Plus it always interfered with my friends' weddings and would have been a logistical puzzle as far as getting me out to Michigan during May or early January when I wouldn't normally be there for school. So I never traveled.
2. I feel like a mission's trip is a good "use" of my singleness. Not that it is my only purpose as a single woman or that married women can't pursue short or long term missions, but it does make temporary overseas missions so much easier. I have no husband to think about or children who need me. I asked my boss if I could have the time off, he agreed, and that was all. So simple.
3. This is the first time in my life that I remember being truly grateful for my singleness and lack of my own family. A woman in my church with a lot of kids told me how excited she was that I was able to go on the trip. She also admitted that she was jealous. There was no way this woman could have gone on this trip, or even thought of it for a moment. Her husband would have had to take a week off of work to stay with the kids. He would have had to take over everything, from homeschooling to running the household. Though I am sure he would have been willing and also perfectly capable, she really couldn't go.
Though I pray for it not always to be so, right now I am thankful to be so unattached.
4. Most importantly, we are going to be helping a seminary and pastors in the area. We are going to bless them with our service and help the gospel go forth in Colombia, and I am beyond excited!
5. Through this trip, even though I haven't left yet, God has been showing me more of His faithfulness. Family and friends have been generous in supporting me financially. People have told me they will cover the rest of the money I need and saying to tell them if I don't have enough. My boss is giving me the week off during a busy season when he has every right not to let me go. I have faced my fear of needles this month more times than I think I have in my entire life, and God did not leave me. He is teaching me to trust Him more as I travel to a country with many mosquito born illnesses despite the fact that I'm a mosquito magnet.
Right now my life feels exciting, and God has been faithful during this time. When I return from my trip and I settle back into the mundane, He will also be faithful.
He is always faithful. And even though I know many people who are hurting right now, this is news I shouldn't wonder when or how to share.
