The Slog.

me living my best life in Georgia

As a young believer, what I thought walking with God would be like and what I experienced when I gave him my whole hearted yes were pretty different things. In 1992, at the ripe old age of 19, I moved to Tbilisi, Georgia. I had arrived in Sakartvelo (საქართველო) starry eyed to be an official missionary.  I was really putting my faith into action, following God's call on my life, risking everything for the gospel. Wow. This was it. Not just a hypothetical, but reality. I had trained for this, 6 months of Discipleship Training School (DTS), I was ready. Or not.

What I experienced in that year is a story all it's own, but today's reflection is on how very mundane and often tedious my days there could be. My experience was much more of a slog than a highlight reel of glorious sun drenched moments. It was a shock to my Christian system. I had gone into it braced for hard things, but for the days that stretched on forever?  Not so much.  I feel a bit of the same right now.

 

What can I say here in this moment that I'm inhabiting?  That I feel a bit claustrophobic and I would like to get out of the discomfort? That saying to everyone around me (+ myself ) that God has his purposes in this season doesn't change how hard it is to live every single moment of this season. It's a slog. It's just one foot in front of the other. Just do today. This too shall pass.

I clearly still have so much to learn a full 32 years after my bold step into unknown lands, but one thing that came home to my heart then and resides there still is that God is with me every single slogging step of the way.  There's no place I can go where He isn't with me.  (Psalm 139)

So if you're looking for me, I'm just over here slogging along.  Thankfully, I have great company.