The beginning.

July 10th, 2010. Do you remember what you were doing? I do. Clearly.
It was almost 6AM, and I had already been up on the big hill behind Abi and Lily's house for half an hour. The breeze was just cold enough to be uncomfortable and the slope just steep enough to make laying down almost impossible, but either way I was content as I sat on the blue vinyl poncho that instinct has told me to bring because I knew the grass would be coated in dew. It was one thing to be cold, but to be cold with a wet butt? That would have been the worst. My team was scattered out in front of me and I said a prayer over each of them before beginning to process and pray for myself. Our time in Viile Tecii, like so many other things in my life, was coming to an end and home was so close I could see it coming around the corner. This trip, my time with these people, the summer, my time at home, my life before college . . . it was all ending. Looking ahead in my life, I felt like I was in one of those cartoons where the character is walking and all of the sudden they walk into nothing, just a big, white blank space where the animator either forgot to draw something for them or just chose to not draw anything. You know what I'm talking about? Well, luckily for me the one who animates my life never chose to stop creating a place for me and never, ever forgets about me.
The sun started to rise, as I prayed on that hill thinking, "God, what is after this? I don't know what to expect anymore. This is all coming to an end,". Just then, the sun broke over the hill and the breeze picked up, rustling the wildflowers and tall grass that surrounded my blue vinyl nest, and a voice whispered in my ear, ". . beginning,"

I thought at first this meant that my life post-Romania was beginning, but now I realize it meant so much more than that. It meant that I am beginning to really live the life Christ had planned out for me. I am beginning my life as a college student. I am beginning to continue to grow into that person I was meant to be. I am beginning to really make an impact. I am beginning to fulfill my purpose. And most of all, I am beginning to realize what an amazing, mind blowing, out of this world, powerful Creator I serve. He took a crazy, train wreck mess of a 17 year old and healed her and turned her into a missionary. He placed people her in life who spoke the things over her she always needed to hear. He sent her across the world to see her potential and realize that, just as one of her team mates prayed over her, that He makes beauty out of brokenness. He took the girl who hated herself and regretted her past and sat her on a mountain top in Viile Tecii, Romania and told her this was only the beginning. He turned her life around and made her whole.
Now, a month later, she's sitting by herself in Panera just people watching and reading her Bible. She leaves for college in a week and has been home for almost an entire month, preparing for the next phase that He is bringing. And she knows that even with the extreme challenges and lows, it's all worth it, because this is what she is here for and this is the beginning.