Looping

     A couple of Saturdays ago I was blessed to go to a conference featuring Jen Hatmaker. I had never heard of this woman before in my life. I only got to go because someone else wasn't able to make it. I thought it would be interesting and maybe fun, women's conferences usually are. I was not expecting it to be life changing. I was not expecting this woman, whom I had never heard of, to change my entire outlook on life. Actually, I had been on this journey for a few months, so I guess she really just pushed me over the edge. But it was the push I desperately needed!

     Jen Hatmaker is the author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess which is rather popular right now. (I still haven't read it. I am currently reading her book Interrupted.)  She is funny, real, and has a way of stepping on your toes and still making you want to be her best friend. That, my friends, is what you call a gift! You will be hearing a lot of her through me, I am sure.



     I could go on and on today, but I really want to focus on something she said about looping. Have you ever had a thought, idea, opportunity, etc., keep coming back? It's like you can't get rid of it. Maybe you aren't supposed to "get rid of it!" Wow, there's a thought! Maybe there is a reason it keeps getting thrown in your path. So, why am I suddenly posting to this blog when I haven't since the summer of 2012?  LOOPING!

     The fact that I even went to Swaziland in the first place was due to looping. Once there, I fell in love with it. I knew I wanted to go back someday. But, the timing seemed wrong. Maybe, I shouldn't go back, at least not for a while. There were several things that played into that, some I am not dragging into a blog right now (and if I ever do it will be carefully.) Got you curious, don't I?

     Fast forward a year.... I have gone to grad school, received certification to teach K-6 general education, and moved back to Northern Virginia on faith and prayer. One of my first Sundays back I went to a teen ministry meeting and was talking with a new acquaintance, Catalina.  We were discussing world travels and I mentioned Swaziland. She stopped me and said, "There is a lady here from Swaziland!" To which I quickly replied, "No, not Switzerland, Swaziland." Sure enough though, she introduced me to Rita....from Swaziland. SWAZILAND! A country I had never even heard of until the Dudley's gave a mission report that Wednesday evening just a couple of years before. ......   Looping. Since then, I have new contacts in Swaziland and new ideas as to ways to serve there (and a job teaching 6th grade here in Fairfax County.)

So, is Swaziland still in my future? I am fairly certain it is, or somewhere is. I think I'll use this blog to record the journey....to wherever God sends me, before God sends me. So many people look back and think of what happened on their way. I have the faith that I am on the journey right now. Maybe a few people will read this. It will be a lot of thinking "out loud" so be patient. What I say one day, may go out the window the next, and come back through the front door a week later. It helps me to write, but I hate writing just for the sake of writing. I don't mind if someone might read it though. Don't you feel useful now?


Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.  James 1:27