Three months ago today, I landed in Santiago de Chile, tired from the journey but excited to learn and live in this new place for the next five months.  I had no idea what my host family would be like or how my classes would work or what kinds of foods I would eat or how I would manage the language learning and lifestyle adjustments.  That was January 5, 2017.  Today is April 5, 2017.

Time is a very strange thing, and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that I have lived all of the experiences that I have lived in the past three months in just three months.  That’s wild.  I think I’ll give you all a recap on this semester when it’s actually over in 49 days from now, but just know that I’m marveling at what life can hold.  I even signed up for all this.  I didn’t really know what I signed up for, I guess.

Not too much has happened since I last posted (I just got back from Spring Break), but I wanted to take note of this day.  So I will also take a moment to praise God for continually showing up in ways I’m not even looking for, reminding me that He is constant and ever-loving and ever-sovereign.  When I’m irritated at the smogginess of Santiago, He reminds me of His beauty in the birds or the sky.  When I’m tired and not looking forward to a long day at school and on the metro, He reminds me through a song on my Spotify playlist that He is my rest and my joy.  When something pains my lovely host family and I’m in the middle of their sadness, He reminds me that He works all things for our good in His perfect timing while simultaneously promising us His peace.

Being loved by this God is not good luck; it is how He purposefully created us and the world.

I will be home, in Maryland, in 49 days.  If I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that a lot can happen in 49 days…

 

Peace and Blessings and Good Things to Come x

(From Santiago de Chile)

 

2 thoughts on “Ahhh, way back when…”

  1. Think about the life experience you gain in just 5 short months. Compare it to prior semesters – not so much in terms of being busy, but the experience. “Experience” (n.) (14c) “observation as the source of knowledge; actual observation; an event which has affected one,” from Old French esperience “experiment, proof, experience” (13c.), from Latin experientia “a trial, proof, experiment; knowledge gained by repeated trials,”

    Your point of view will be forever changed.

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