The Reentry

Reentry is defined as a second or new entry.  This will be my third Reentry from Belize and easier is not used when I define what lays ahead of me. I will try to put into words what the first time team members might be feeling and what I feel today.  I am all heart in making descions but the word tells us,The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). So my first advice is to  take a deep breath and allow your heart time to feel and let your head time to process.
I am a mommy and a wife. Two jobs that require much of my heart and dedication. It was not normal to turn those jobs off for a week.  In fact I have never experienced a mission trip without my husband or children. I was able to spend time alone with God and was able to listen on ways I could return home a better wife and a better mommy.  I pray all of our team will come home and find things where they could serve The Lord better than they did before. So my second advice is to write it down.   Write down the answered prayers. Write down the areas you need to make changes in your life. Write down where you need to serve more and worry less. Write it down.
Jesus example to us and His command, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19 ESV) are words that don't go away upon Reentry. I was so encouraged by the youth we took on our trip. Boldness was a word I could use to describe each one of them. I watched them take time to pray with each waiter, bus driver, team member or child. Without hesitation they shared the gospel. My third piece of advice is to keep it up. Your pictures.  Your experience.  Your story is His story. Don't keep it to your self. I recently read an article that stated only 11% of churchgoers would ever go on a mission trip. Your experience is worth telling to all that will listen.
My heart is speaking louder than my head in the first few days at home. My heart remembers the hugs, the conversations, the homes we walked in, the hands I held, the kisses I stole, the tickles I gave, the words they spoke, the songs we sang and the tears we cried.  Piper says it best, "The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness.” 

 My last advice is to forget your self again. If I close my eyes I can hear the crunch of the gravel wet road under my shoes and I can feel the humid air and I remember not myself but the love that was worth it. My last advice is to remember. Remember it was worth it.