Today is Wednesday, June 24 in Hyderabad. It is the last day of debrief and I am coming to terms with the fact that this summer is almost over. It seems like yesterday that I was loading up my pack while Sampson (my dog) kept dragging things out and back into my room.
During debrief, I was asked the question, "Do I accept that the next season of my life may not look the same as this season?" Well, yeah.
I hadn't even thought of that yet but it seemed like an obvious question to me. Obviously I wasn't going to be living in India with 21 girls next semester. I'll be in America with 4 roommates, a room to myself and a bed that I can melt into. When I want to take a hot shower, all I need to do is turn a dial. I won't have to wait until Sunday and wifi cafes to call home. I can wear shorts without being gawked out like Im walking around topless… believe me, I'm ready.
As each day in Hyderabad goes by, the anticipation of seeing my family feels like a teapot getting louder and louder. Almost every girl here is excited to come back home for one reason or another. Yet, as each day grows closer to the 27th we talk more and more about things we are going to miss being together. For the past 2 months I have lived with 21 girls. I slept in a small room with 8 girls and countless TMI conversations. We have been sick together. We have cried, laughed, sweat, sang and eaten together. We have seen the same poverty. We have loved the same orphans. Not to sound like the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, but I love them. For me, they are the first group of dangerously Godly women I have ever been around. And that's real.
I'm no longer living and working in an orphanage. In 24 hours, I won't even be in India. We won't be gathering on a rooftop to do bible study every morning. We won't be spending our days at the orphanages, loving on our kids. Soon, I'm not going to be surrounded by such a powerful group of women everyday.
Typing this, I'm realizing that maybe I'm not quite as ready as ready could be.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, "There is a season and a time for every matter: A time to plant and a time to pluck up what has been planted."
Even if I am not quite as "ready" to leave behind this summer and all the relationships that grew with it, I am ready to see what God has in store for me this semester. With everything I have seen and experienced, I can leave India saying, without any doubts in my mind, that God is real and SO tangible. He is tangible in Ongole, Dubai, Hyderabad, Georgia and Virginia.
Im as ready as I will ever be to be plucked up and planted elsewhere.
