Hello, you.

I haven’t written here in this quiet space in a little while. Why is it that writers always feel the need to explain themselves when they come back to the world of their blogs? I don’t know, but we do.

Anyways. A lot has happened since we met here last. For one thing, there was a global pandemic. I say that so nonchalantly and like it’s a thing of the past, though, clearly we are still in it. But, now we are in it, with plenty of toilet paper, so it feels less urgent, I think.

We had to come off the road two months early because of this pandemic and I know missionaries are supposed to say spiritual things, but if I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t sad about it.

Road life is intense and I was tired. So, home has been nice.

When we first got home, we quarantined for a couple weeks in a cottage in the woods. I cracked open the windows and fell asleep each night to the croaking of frogs and a cool, gentle breeze. In the mornings, I took the dog for walks on muddy tree sloped trails and we looked for deer and rabbits and found where a beaver was building his dam.

I decided that I wanted a house nestled up to the woods, after that, with winding trails and some fields to wander in. But, we came back to our house in the quiet circle subdivision and I realized for some reason, these people in the houses right next to mine are really important.

It’s not that I don’t want a house with a front porch where I can see the sunrise or the sunset, it’s just that we are only here in this world for a short breadth of time and I think God wants us, for now, to be content with the acre yard and these particular neighbors that we call friends.

Since we’ve been home, Brent has gone back into the office to help out in the accounting department. He’s good with money and math and so we know he’s putting his talents to good use and being helpful to the ministry in a time when they really need him.

In our spare time, we’ve become rock collectors. We decided to take advantage of being home for a longer spill of time, and we’ve taken on quite a few landscaping projects in our yard.

In order to landscape, you need supplies, much like an artist needs paints and brushes before she takes to the canvas and so we’ve been steadily browsing Facebook Marketplace. We hunt for free or inexpensive bricks and pavers, different shaped stones for building walls and we’ve been creating meandering paths through the back yard, that lead to bird baths.

It’s been a lot of work, but so much fun, too. I wonder if our neighbors think we’ve become some sort of rock hoarders because we’ve got quite the stash now, underneath the Pine tree in the front yard.

It feels strange to just be working on house projects and yard projects. I think because of my personality, I wake up each day, thinking I’m supposed to somehow save the world. But, then I step into the kitchen and realize that I’m going to have a hard time, again, tackling the dishes and there are these weeds to pull in the flower beds and I’m not sure how much time I’ll have left to save any people after that.

God and I have to have a lot of chats. I have to remember that it’s not actually my job to save humanity. That’s something only God can do, and He’s already put a plan in place so I can join Him in His plan, but little finite me can only do so much.

I got my wisdom teeth out at least a week ago, and have had a real hard time of it, so it’s a humbling thing to require so much rest and Tylenol and ibuprofen when there are so many more important things in the world to be accomplishing.

I wonder if that’s what this pandemic has been teaching me? I can make plans but only God knows whether or not we’ll be driving across the country in our RV, pulled by a giant semi, or if we’ll be planting hostas in the yard.

I am not here to hold on tightly to my life, but to openly hold out my hands and carry things loosely. My friend told me once that this moment, the one that I am living in right now, is the most significant moment of my life, because it’s the only moment I know that I have. And in this very moment, God is here.

God is here. I am here. So, this minute is important. Even if my mouth hurts from oral surgery. Even if we don’t know if we’ll be traveling for sure, this fall.

I think when my body gets back to feeling better, God has given me a small plan and I hope to begin working that plan. I’d like to begin learning how to do prayer therapy with friends. To develop a very simple method to help people be able to get their hurts to God and be healed by the deep sense of His Presence and love.

And I think I have a title now, for my next book, so I hope to begin working on that. I have an author friend, Erin Davis, who often says, “What can you do uniquely that the world needs desperately?”

I want to help the world so badly, and I believe God has given me writing, so I will get to work on that.

I think that’s something else that the pandemic has been teaching me. God has given us a certain amount of time here, and although the world is hard, He IS working in a myriad of ways that we can’t see. We each get a little part in the redemption of things.

What about you, friend? How are you filling your days? Are you learning to rest in God’s heart?

Sending you peace.