I think anyone who would be reading this blog knows this already, but we’re in South Asia for the next two years. To read about what we’re doing there, go to www.thesouthasiayears.com. I may drop in here from time to time, but for the most part, I’ll be posting here.

Drumroll, please…It is finished!

Not the selling of our house, or the packing up of our house, or the fundraising.

THE WEDDING SCRAPBOOK!

Finally, it is finished. 3 years, 3 months and 24 days of marriage; 3 scrapbook binders; 2 photo albums; 5 rolls of double-sided tape; 3 gluesticks; lots of trash (including the extra invitations, programs, bits of cards, photos); and a sore back from sitting-on-the-floor-instead-of-at-a-table LATER…I have completed our wedding scrapbook and disposed of the trash that it generated.

My life is a tiny bit simpler and my office is a tiny bit more organized and straighter. And, my list of things to finish before February/we leave/sell our house/move out of our house/ is now minus one! I SHOULD be dancing around celebrating!

But what do I do afterward? Cry buckets.

Why, you ask? Well, see. There’s a crazy grief that comes with moving to a different country that sometimes manifests itself in unexpected ways. So, here we are.

When I got that pedicure the other day, it reminded me of our trek through a Hindu temple in South Asia back in August. We had to remove our shoes because that is the respectful thing to do and they won’t allow you to walk inside without doing that. So, we had to walk all around the area shoe-less. It was wet–hopefully from the rain that day. But at certain points along the way, that water was ankle-deep and we were pressed against people. I remember seeing a reddish color to the water at certain points and feeling on the verge of a panic attack while being pressed against the wall by people desperate to see a god. But, more about that another time.

When I walked outside of the nail salon alone, carrying my tennis shoes and wearing paper-thin flip-flops…when I felt the wet parking lot ground from the day’s rain and realized that I was basically walking barefoot, I momentarily wondered if I should put my shoes back on. Then, I remembered that I had already walked through dirtier water and survived. So, I shrugged it off and kept on walking.

I am becoming more and more aware of my need for a great faith. My faith is the result of 22 years of being a Christian, but most of all–God’s goodness to keep me in faith. And when I look back at His hand on my life through those years and even before, I am amazed and thankful. Even when I am so prone to wander.

But to go to South Asia, I need a GREAT faith. And not just to go to South Asia, but to BELIEVE and continue believing that God is not only capable of, but will accomplish great things. To believe that God is going to provide what we need financially and that His timing is perfect. To believe that He will provide a way for us to sell our house in an impossible real estate market, to believe that he will make Himself known to South Asians, to believe that He will take care of our parents while we’re away, to believe that He will keep us in Him, to continue to believe that it is He who has led us on this path and it will be He who provides for it.

I’m reading biographies about men and women who lived for decades in cultures that were not their own. People who remain joyful in the midst of hardship, and people who press into God more fully whenever they are tempted to doubt Him. And, these people prayed. I’m inspired to pursue God more deeply and more passionately, to long for and pray for a great faith.

I am also reminded of a friend-of-a-friend. We’ll call her Sara. Sara will pray about ANYTHING. And she is so known for her “ability” in prayer that people will ask her specifically to pray for things…a car that is needed for immigrants who live in poverty, financial provision for business or family that is struggling, the weather, the health of a dying person. People ask her to pray for things that seem impossible. Now, I must admit that I can be somewhat cynical about Sara’s prayers. She doesn’t go to the same kind of church that I do, which means she doesn’t speak quite the same religious jargon that I do. And it feels a little bit non-Protestant to put too much emphasis on someone else’s prayers for me.

But, I’ve realized that they ask her to pray NOT because she has a direct line to God (we ALL have a direct line to God through our redemption in Christ). They ask her to pray because she has a great faith.

Pray believing. God has ordained prayer as a means to accomplish His will. Nothing is impossible for God.

And, of course the desire for a great faith leads me to Hebrews 11. (And please do not hear that I aspire to be included in this list of faithful people here. The canon is closed, people. But I can be encouraged by them to pray for my own weak faith to be strengthened.) I read this again–a somewhat familiar passage–and I am led to pray for great faith. A great faith is not going to come from within me. It’s just not. But it does come from a great God.

I’m sitting at Starbucks trying to get down some of the thoughts that crowd my mind these days. And all I can do is look for photos on Facebook of my friends who are finally united with their family, which includes two little adopted boys from Ethiopia that God gave them after many years of waiting for children. It is such a beautiful picture of God’s provision, His adoption as sons, and a reminder that some from every tribe will know Him.

And all of this, pushes me closer to South Asia in my heart and mind. It brings tears to my eyes as I think of the reunion that we will one day know in Christ and of the people of South Asia who need to understand the truth of the gospel. It makes the logistics that have been overwhelming me fade to the sidelines and forces the faces of people to my mind. And I think, “Yes, Lord!  Help me remember the people!”