Time to Leave...

So on my last Sunday in Sioux Center, I spent a few hours with some pretty amazing high schoolers. :)

God's been teaching me so MUCH through them over the past few years, and as I anticipated leaving Dordt, one of the most difficult parts about it was saying goodbye to those beautiful kids. Being an adult sponsor at Christ Community youth group has been one of the best experiences in my college career.
I got asked countless times (in jest) why I was leaving by a few of the girls. And every time, I actually reconsidered it just a little bit. My mind was saying things like this: WHY am I leaving behind these people that I've poured my life into? It'd be so great to stay here and continue to love on the Christ Community youth group. What about my friends? I want to be in their lives forever too. And it'd be so much easier to stay here. I KNOW what that would look like. And there are people that I just met that I want to know so much better, and... and..

The list was pretty endless.

But the thing about God's timing is that it's perfect.

One summer, I made a friend that I knew I would probably never see again. "But, GOD.." I said, "She understands me so well, and she challenges me in my faith, and refreshes me... why can't I just hang on to this friendship?"
She answered that question for me. As we were talking, I suggested staying in touch. What she said to me stuck in my head for a while.

"Mary," she said, "sometimes, God just gives us a certain person for a certain season of life.  That's ok. He provided you for this season, and that's just what I needed. And He'll give us who we need for the next season as well. "

In her beautifully simple words, she had spoken what I clearly needed to hear in that moment. She still holds a special place in my heart... but that was a passing moment. As the prophet in Ecclesiastes said, there is a time for everything under the sun.

...there is a time to leave?

People keep asking me if I'm nervous for next semester. Thinking about it, I don't think I'm nervous about the newness of the next four months. The more accurate statement might be that I'm nervous about the end of what seems to be a pretty ginormous season of life. I get nervous about leaving places because I'm afraid that the things I've learned and the ways that I've grown will be put on a shelf...it's not even a nice display shelf either. I'm talking about the kind of shelf where dust accumulates, and things get moldy--the kind that becomes home to spiders and stale air.

Yes, author of ecclesiastes, there IS a time for everything. But I don't think this means that God wants us to simply move on from each season of life either. How tragic it would be if the times to mourn or the times to dance were forgotten. If we never changed because of the times for healing or hurting, how would God ever shape us to be more like Him?

Those crazy high schoolers I mentioned earlier have made a permanent change in me. So have friends, and profs, and other people I've met at Dordt. I'm praying that instead of leaving those things on a shelf here at home, God will help me take pieces of those people with me to Uganda. I'm also praying that God gives me an open heart; that as He puts people in my life this coming semester, I'm able to be shaped and affected by their beauty as well.

I'm loving this time of transition right now. But it does feel a bit strange to be hanging in the middle of two seasons of life. How beautiful that we have a God that is the same yesterday, today and forever. It's been pretty awesome seeing evidence for the truth that God's timing is perfect. With so many little details, He's been proving to me over and over that the next four months will be in His control. It's almost time to leave. It's almost time for a new season. Currently, I'm praising God for all of the ups and downs that come with a time of transition.. because He shapes us through every season of our lives.

11 days, and I'll be on that plane. :) Praise God for His perfect timing.