What is normal?

When Shane and I were first married, we went on a short term missions trip to Madang, PNG. It was a great experience, and we still keep in touch with the missionaries there. We just received an email from some friends. They have a little boy named Noah who is about a year old. Her email really spoke volumes to me. Lets just say that I can really relate to what she said. Please read this email and pray for this family. It is so hard sometimes just getting from day to day in their line of work.

Here is her email....

I think one of these days I will just admit to myself that trying to live a “normal” life over here is not something that was meant to be. Life’s an adventure, might as well hang on and enjoy the ride right? Or freak out by all the twists and turns it makes. I have in my mind how I think life should be, even over here on the mission field, and since returning from our furlough last August, God has blown my ideas and expectations out the window. Sure there are things that Kyle and I think are important. They ARE important, things that NEED to be done, like buildings needing to be built, offices remodled, guesthouse and housing taken care of, people’s needs to be met, stability in our own home life, time for each other, our son. I could continue. But God has other agendas for us in the midst of the “work” for Him. Every upset that has come our way this past year, has been like another hurdle for me to jump over, hold my breath under, just waiting until life can just be “normal” again. But what IS normal? God doesn’t ask us to “weather” every storm, hold our breath and hunker down until it has passed on by us.…but to STAND UP INSIDE the storm, the challenges, the difficulties, and embrace WITH JOY the lessons He has for us in those times. “Normal” isn’t the easy life… where we slide through days, weeks even months, without a tremor to our well placed plans and expectations. Maybe normal is embracing those things that God brings daily into our lives, that challenge us to grow, step outside our comfort zones, and trust Him even when the circumstances He has placed us in don’t make sense. I want my “normal” to be accepting with joy all that God’s hand and grace decides to give me for that day. Because trials… ARE normal. I think I have a long way to go in this…but with all the changes our little family has been through this past year…one thing has never changed…His faithfulness to stand beside us all the way, and teach us wonderful lessons from all the places he decides to take us. Normal? God is… the only constant, sure, steadfast, unmovable, unchangeable, normal thing in this world. I am glad we are Standing on THAT rock, and nor our own understanding as we walk through life.

Now where did that all come from you ask? Good question.. I guess I just sat down to write you an update about our past week here and things just started coming out as I wondered what to write. This past week was just another mini struggle in the whole scheme of things I have been learning. My struggle this week was my dental issues continuing to get worse. I had had a root canal done while we were living in Moresby and it never fully “healed”. I struggled with headaches and jaw aches daily and little energy. Then 2 weeks after we got home the filling caved in, and the headaches were back. So I flew back to Moresby to get it fixed ( 3 weeks ago) But again it started to cave in this past week and the headaches and jaw aches continued.

SO this past week I packed up again, and headed to Goroka where a team from the States had come to minister. An American Dentist was on that team and he was seeing patients for a week who needed emergency work done. Praise the Lord!! I flew up to see him and he FINISHED the supposedly already finished root canal I had done in Moresby. ( OUCH!!!) But the headaches persisted and he didn’t know what caused them and I started to get discouraged. Along with that, no daddy for Noah, schedule all messed up, Noah getting sick, and still hoping to get some answers on things or just a FIX to the problem so I could return to normal added stress to the situation. My “flesh” just sighs and goes good grief, to be able to get in a car and DRIVE to the dentist would be so NORMAL right about now. Instead of catching a 206, trying to find a room at the guest house, chartering flights, and ultimately spending a week away from home and ministry to fix a TOOTH, an exercise in patience and faith that God knows what He is doing was a good lesson for me. He takes care of all our needs, and provides what we need, when we need it, faithfully.

So we are all home together again. Surprisingly the headaches are starting to get better and I feel like I have more energy through the day. As we settle back into our ministry, life, and routine, again I realize ... life is going to be what God chooses it to be. He is going to take us to the places, and teach us truths about Himself that he wants us to learn. If that cant happen in the normal of daily life, and He needs to upset things a bit to refine us, however often that may be…then that is GOOD… that is NORMAL… that is GOD.

This all may seem silly coming from just a tooth problem.. but in reality it goes way back to me just learning to let go and trust God for the plans He has for my life and the life of my family and our ministry over here. If you think of it, pray with me that I would continue to grow and be FLEXIBLE to all the changes this life brings my way and that I would not long for the “normal” life I had back home. I have come to realize that this earth is not my home, PNG is not my home, even the USA is not my home. Rather HEAVEN is my home, and the different roads God takes me on to get there are going to be full of twists and turns, straight shots and narrow places. But when I GET there.. Ahhh now THAT will be what Normal is supposed to be – Praising HIS name…. Forever.

Growing with you
Jen for Kyle and Noah too