Skip to main content

On the road again...almost.

Today is Norway’s national day and it was so nice to be in Norway for it. Got to wear my national costume, watch the schools walk in a parade, eat hot dogs and ice cream, wave my Norwegian flag, take my niece to watch the parade called “folketoget”, blow soap-bubbles with my niece and nephew on the veranda, see what the royal family were wearing on television, and have nice food and enjoy celebrating this wonderful country I was born in. It’s been a great day!

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Mainly packing and getting ready.... “ready for what?” you may ask. Ready to get on a plane Thursday morning back to Amsterdam.

After a lot of waiting and trusting and talking and listening I am now heading back to Amsterdam for a month to “spy out the land”. I’m going to join with the “Lighthouse” and “Tabernacle”, two ministries of YWAM Amsterdam and see how that goes. See if it could be and is the next place I am to stop and work in... see how God leads.

So tomorrow will be busy. I’ve had my “list” for a week now, but somehow I always end up with a bunch of things to do last minute. Things I could have done earlier, but just didn’t. The other day I was pondering this fact. I’ve been doing the travelling to and fro for years now, and the day before I leave is always the same- a day consumed with packing and finishing unfinished tasks. I always have great intentions of packing early and having a day of chilling, but it never works. I don’t quite know why. Maybe it’s because starting to get the list done puts me into the “leaving mode”, and I’d rather “be where I am” a little longer, than extend the travelling period? Whatever the reason, the conclusion of my ponderings was that it probably won’t change, and so I just need to accept the fact that the last day at home will be one of those days and go with it. And so I will. Tomorrow will be that day, the day to get through my list, ready to set off. I imagine it’ll be a tad stressful. Change and travel always is. Leaving my family again is always hard. But it’s part of the journey, and so I recognise it for what it is and just go with it, and try to encounter the peace of God somewhere in the midst of it.

All that said, it’s nice to know the next step of my journey, and (almost) be on the road again.

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday children's prayer | Handing out shoes and feeding toddlers.

No day is the same here. After getting up early (which seems to be what I do here), and eating breakfast which was bread with butter (accompanied by an amazing cup of coffee given me by an American friend), I headed to the prayer room for children's prayer. This is a prayer time where the children come voluntarily to pray before school on Tuesdays and Fridays. Entering the room I was so impressed by how it was full of children eager to pray. There were probably 60 or 70 children there, and it was amazing to see one after the other choose to pray for their families and people who are sick, and other subjects on their little hearts. It was so great and an experience that I will carry with me for a long time. After prayer it was "Shoprite" time, which meant piling into a bus with other visitors and missionaries for the weekly shopping trip. I didn't quite know what to expect, but I had a few items to buy and hoped it would be a stress-free experience. As we drove along ...

It’s been one week.

A week ago we were sitting at work talking about how quickly the Corona situation was escalating. News of closed gyms and limited gatherings were there, and we were wondering what now. Only the day before we’d been open, and while taking the hygiene precautions and reminding each other to not hug or shake hands, there was a sense of support in each other, and normality was still there. Then suddenly it all changed. From being a crisis in China and Asia, then Italy, it had well and truly arrived in Norway. Friday morning we sat in our staff meeting. News of the closing of all schools and kindergartens for two weeks had come the evening before. We sat there with so many questions and few answers. The one thing we knew for sure was that this was a time to be available and present. A time to be proactive, and to make sure our people knew that we were there even if we weren’t open. That day we made many phone calls and sent messages and emails. Some were worried and needed reassurance,...

At a crossroads yet again.

This evening feelings of weariness flood my soul. Weary of not knowing. Weary of choosing to trust. Weary of waiting. Weary of walking yet not knowing what I am walking in or towards. Weary of figuring out life on my own. This past month the reality of crossroads in life has hit me yet again. I knew it was coming, but suddenly it was there and I just had to go with it. There’s not much more I can do...except waiting and trusting and choosing. Choosing to let God be the One who guides and fights and prepares the path before me. My crossroads is “do I stay or do I go”? From Kansas City and IHOP-KC. In October I’ll have been here two years, which feels like 5 years and at the same time 6 months. In December I go home for Christmas. It’ll have been a year since last time and I’ll be seeing my niece who’ll be 3 instead of 2 years old, and my little nephew who will be 1 year already, and I’ll get to meet little Julie who is only three weeks old as I write this. She’ll be 4 months when I meet...