Saying Goodbye to Say Hello

Everything has been steadily coming to an end in this wonderful chapter of my life – finishing classes and finals, taking care of all that needed to be done for graduation, finally graduating, friends moving away, saying goodbye. Today was my last day at Rayne where I teach children’s church and worship every Sunday; today was the hardest goodbye.

It was funny, and perfect, that my last day happened to coincide with confirmation Sunday. Confession: I cried through almost the entire service, but I cried particularly during the confirmation and baptisms (ok, maybe not the most shocking confession). I remember the day I was confirmed very well. I cried then too because I knew I was becoming a part of a huge, loving family and because I felt God’s love upon me so strongly. I knew then that he had big plans for me, like he has for each of us. I may be on the way out from Rayne, but I got to see the bright and beautiful faces of the church’s future standing up there with their proud parents. They will be the next Sunday school teachers and worship leaders, they’ll keep the loving community alive.

Callie’s message to the new confirmands and to all of us had to do with moving forward, growing, evolving, as God intends us to do. We can’t just stay in one place or move backwards lest we miss out on the abundant life that’s graciously available to each of us. I could stay in New Orleans this summer and have an absolute blast, and sometimes I want to. Sometimes hanging out and going to festivals every weekend sounds 20 times more appealing than heading down to the unpredictability of Haiti. But I know for certain that Haiti is where God wants me.

God has been at work on my heart these last four years bringing me to this place. I used to believe pretty firmly that international missions weren’t really for me. God turned that right around showing me his heart for social justice and for the nations. Then this opportunity to go to Haiti was set before me and the means to get there practically fell into my lap without me even looking for them (pretty great stories actually). And especially over the course of this semester, my heart has just been hurting for Haiti and for the children there that I haven’t met yet but that I love deeply already. I hear of their suffering, the conditions they face day in and day out that I have no concept of living where I do, their seemingly hopeless situations and I ache for them. I hear about these things and don’t see how I could not go.

Saying goodbye is hard to do. I’m so thankful for everything my church family at Rayne has been and done for me – including financing this trip to Haiti. I have been so loved on grown so much while at Rayne but now is the time to go out from here and continue to grow in new and deeper ways. I’m so excited, a little bit scared, and so very ready to go to Haiti and see what God has for me there. Please pray for the people there and that God would be preparing my heart as I get ready for this journey!

Saying goodbye to New Orleans and the life I love here is hard to do, but it must come before I can say hello to Haiti.