I've been here training for almost a week now, and it's been a whirlwind of an experience. To think that He has been putting together the details of my life and desires since the every beginning, and bringing me to this place is incredibly humbling and overwhelming.
Never would I have thought I would be preparing to be sent into the 10/40 Window of the world to love and serve people who do not know the Light of the Son. Never would I have thought that I would have been able to teach and minister in the Middle East, and that it would be an affirmation for things to come. Never would I have thought God would send me a vision of praying monks in the mountains to be a sign of things to come in my own life. Never would I have thought, when I boarded that plane to Mexico with my youth group for the first time in my life, that God would completely enrapture my attention to His love for His people and creation everywhere--that the Lord is truly a global God, Father to all Creation.
No, not never as in I doubted. But there were surely some days when I was tempted to. I mean "never would I have thought" all these things would come to pass as they have in the time they have. He pays attention, He listens, and while He is close, He is also expansive and beyond anything we can imagine.
To echo young Mary, I sing with her even now,
"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--Holy is His name!"