We only have 2 weeks left? Next week is our last FULL week? When did that happen?
I can't decide if this trip has gone by quickly or slowly. Training camp seems ages and ages ago, but it doesn't seem like we should be going home so soon either. Even though we will be flying home before we know it, this trip isn't over yet. God can and will do so much in our last couple of weeks! But today I was thinking about what I would miss most about Thailand and the sweet little girl, Faa, who I see every week at the slums instantly popped into my head.
I know you aren't supposed to pick favorites but I can't help it; Faa won my heart on day 1. She seemed to take a particular liking to me and has latched herself onto me every time we go. Today was no exception. When she saw me she ran into my arms and motioned for me to pick her up. When I reached down to get her, she noticed the scar on my left hand that I got from surgery. She traced over it with her finger and looked up at me with the most concerned expression on her face, as if to say "what happened?" She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Thai so I had to resort to acting out my accident that broke my hand which made her giggle. Then I picked her up and she started playing with my hair, gently combing it with her little fingers and trying to put my too-short bangs into a ponytail. Then she wanted to play with my phone, which reminded me of my Pastor's adorable kids back home who beg me every Sunday (I guess kids are pretty much the same in every country) so I let her take pictures and play Temple Run.
All of these sweet moments with her were precious and made me realize how much I'm going to miss her. But the thing that struck me the most is when she climbed on top of this big dirt pile and jumped from the top of it, expecting me to catch her. Thank goodness I was able to, and after I put her down and she ran up to do it again I thought, "wow, she really trusts me". And that shocked me so much for a moment because she barely knows me. I can't even understand her and she can't understand me when I speak. But we both understand enough. Like how boo-boos leave scars, on my white skin and her tan skin. And how all girls like getting their hair made pretty. And how laughter means happiness and it's the same for her and for me. And she trusts me. Her jumping from the dirt pile gave me a flashback of my little sister jumping into the pool, fully expecting me to catch her, not doubting for a moment that I would. Even though the water is scary, sissy is there and she won't let anything happen.
And as I thought about this I was reminded that this is the kind of faith I should have in God. To come before him like a little kid sitting before her daddy, listening to his every word. To jump into the water or off of a dirt pile that seems more like a mountain, knowing with certainty that He will catch me. I was terrified to come to Thailand, somewhere I've never been. But God has been with me the whole time. And now that our time is running short, I'm beginning to have fears about going home. Like, what if no one understands everything I've experienced here? But I've had to trust God for everything to get here, every step of the way since I've been here, and I'm still going to need to when I go home. And I want to be like Faa and just jump into the unknown in faith. But unlike Faa and her blind trust for me, an almost stranger, I know my Father and He knows me perfectly. Nothing can separate me from Him and He never lets me down. So as we approach the day when I will return to Dothan, Alabama, I pray that I will continue to follow God into ridiculous, unknown places that scare me because I know his love for me, like a little girl jumping into her daddy's arms.
