Hello everyone, it has been a while and I am sorry about that! I meant to write once a month and yet I feel like I get stuck with “what” to write about. Which honestly I have enough going on that I should never be without something, right? I am going to try this consistency thing again – so TAKE 2! We will try to be on time and upload every month.

Anyways, lots has happened! I am currently in Level 4 in my Korean language school. I have made dear, dear friends at church and I now have a roommate who is from my language school and it has been so fun to have her around! We made pancakes the weekend she moved in and have already had some fun adventures. I am currently almost finished with the children’s book I have been working on and I have more fun projects coming as well. Very thankful to the Lord for constantly giving me work and small jobs and projects as I need them. The Lord has faithfully been providing financially, in community and even just comfort. So in other words, despite some hard days here and there, life has been a blessing with much growth and change!

I will say that I definitely miss my family and friends and I am so thankful for phones and communication! Cause my peoples are a bit far away right now – but we are slowly gaining new peoples in our life.

Now… for what the Lord has been showing me. Oh my goodness, there is so much! I think first, let me talk about my church. I had mentioned my church in my last post and I can’t not mention it here too. It has been the biggest blessing to me. More than I ever could imagine. This church is mainly a community of young people and largely international – which means English speaking services – and is a very “passionate for Jesus” church. Plus a little more on the charismatic side than I am used to but that is just more growth! Our pastor is with no doubt one of the most passionate and strong people I have met and the way he preaches has really challenged me in my walk with the Lord. They say who you surround yourself with is who you will become and so as I have been spending most of my weekends at church I have noticed that my values and desires have shifted in the last few months. How I look at life and how I pursue Jesus. My relationship with Jesus has grown and my desire for him is much greater than it was when I first came. Which, honestly, is hard to imagine. But this community is so on fire for the Lord and the desire to walk with Christ is so deep it is hard to simply be complacent in your walk with the Lord. Instead, it feels like you want to keep running harder after Jesus to keep up with everyone! Not as in a competition but as joining joyfully in a race and to run well as you watch your friends run their own races.

The Lord has been showing me the importance of His word. And simply in having a relationship with Him. God desires for us to pursue Him and I think there has been such a shift and a desire to go deeper with the Lord. Reading the word with my small group, participating in bible studies, going to Friday night worship sessions and joining ministries. I think this is more “church activity” in my life than I have had in a very long time. And it has been scratching an itch I didn’t know I had. A hunger to be closer to the Lord that I didn’t fully know was there.

In that hunger, there has been a change in the way I have been living. One being, I don’t watch all the cutesy or romantic k-dramas anymore or really listen to much secular music either. I have found that my value of what I put in my mind really needs to be something that is going to glorify the Lord and bring me closer to Him. Though I used to really struggle with the idea of giving up my shows and music, I have actually not really missed it. Two is that I have been more intentional about prayer and reading my bible. As I have been talking to the Lord and reading His word more, I have found this closeness in walking with Him. And because of that I feel like I am trusting Him more with my future (still unknown by the way) and trusting Him with my people. It’s really not my life anymore and I am completely okay with that. Reading the stories of the bible and seeing God’s faithfulness in every single one has reminded me that God has me, much more than I have myself.

I think the last big thing that I am relearning is slowness. I have talked about this with a friend a lot lately: of how we don’t feel like we can rush the season we are in. I already felt like I became a “waiting pro” after 5 years of waiting to come back to Korea but now I am learning a different type of waiting that is more like simply going on a walk with Jesus. I am here in Korea, walking with Jesus but He hasn’t told me when the next turn in the walk is or when we will stop to rest. So we are simply slowing walking and I am learning to enjoy the unknown and the slowness. A gentle reminder to you all is that God is not the one in the rush and I think He would like for you to walk with Him in the slowness and quiet when you can because that is a time to give up our control of understanding the next thing. And it is a beautiful and difficult thing to give up control.

There are many other things that I have learned and that I am really in the process of learning but this is a blog not a biography, haha!

Today is actually Resurrection Sunday evening as I write this and I had a wonderful time at church. And so one thing that my pastor said at church today was inspiring and I will leave it with you all: Keep running the race. Don’t stop and don’t slow down. This is a battle and you must keep going. And in this battle (though it is contradictory) learn to walk in the slowness. Being a Christian means you get to live a contradiction. You get to fight a battle while walking with Jesus – you don’t usually just walk in a battle. And you get to fight while also being at peace because we know without a shadow of a doubt that OUR KING has RISEN FROM THE GRAVE and DEFEATED DEATH.

That is our hope. And that is why we get to live a contradiction (read 1 Cor. 6 if you have time) – because our King both died and rose again. Giving us complete hope and restoration to those who follow Him!

Thank you all for sticking around this long and reading my thoughts and heart! Love y’all and I hope that you all had a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Matthew 28 : 5-8 “But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he  lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” ⁸ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”