Tomorrow Bekah starts her trek home from South Africa. She has been gone a month and while I know it has been a fantastic experience for her and that many lives have been touched by God's love, I am so looking forward to her getting home. The hardest thing has been the lack of communication. I am use to talking to Bekah almost every day when she is not home. Sometimes the conversations are long and sometimes they are short, but nonetheless I'm hearing her voice. Cellphones have really shortened distances about as much as anything. Since Bekah left on June 2 I have had 4 total phone conversations with her and 3 of those were before she left the states. I've had a couple of Facebook messages and have checked the updates on her team blog. None of that is the same as hearing her though.
A couple of days before she called from J'Bay I started feeling anxious and a little down. You would think as it got closer to the time I would start cheering up. Instead, I started realizing how long it had been and it had some of the opposite effect. Now that she is about to be home, I'm having the same mixture of feelings - excited to know that Wednesday morning she will be here in Baton Rouge - while at the same time a little feeling of anxiousness and thoughts of how long it's been since I talked to her last. I also know that we are all going to be excited to see her and reved up while she is going to be a little jet lagged from traveling over 24 hours a few days earlier just to get back to Atlanta.
This little month long trip for her has opened my eyes to the sacrifices made by those who leave their families and go to other countries in the mission field. It's way more than leaving the comfort of the USA - it's the distance and the realization that even in an emergency, you can't be where you want to be in a few hours. It's the lack of communication and just not being part of each others daily life. It's truly following a greater call. My prayers are with all the families of those missionaries. And I request your prayers for Bekah's safe trip home over these next few days. She has had so many prayers offered up for her for which I'm thankful. Without the prayers, love and support she never could have gone and I thank you all.
A couple of days before she called from J'Bay I started feeling anxious and a little down. You would think as it got closer to the time I would start cheering up. Instead, I started realizing how long it had been and it had some of the opposite effect. Now that she is about to be home, I'm having the same mixture of feelings - excited to know that Wednesday morning she will be here in Baton Rouge - while at the same time a little feeling of anxiousness and thoughts of how long it's been since I talked to her last. I also know that we are all going to be excited to see her and reved up while she is going to be a little jet lagged from traveling over 24 hours a few days earlier just to get back to Atlanta.
This little month long trip for her has opened my eyes to the sacrifices made by those who leave their families and go to other countries in the mission field. It's way more than leaving the comfort of the USA - it's the distance and the realization that even in an emergency, you can't be where you want to be in a few hours. It's the lack of communication and just not being part of each others daily life. It's truly following a greater call. My prayers are with all the families of those missionaries. And I request your prayers for Bekah's safe trip home over these next few days. She has had so many prayers offered up for her for which I'm thankful. Without the prayers, love and support she never could have gone and I thank you all.
