Really?

Have you ever felt gratitude so completely that it wells up in your heart, makes its way to your throat, and tightens there? I'm currently in that place of being completely, and wonderfully overwhelmed by the graciousness that God has shown me as I have lived in Fresno thus far.

I'm sitting on our couch in the Family Room, and am trying to hold it in (there's a large meeting in the next room)... but I am so grateful to be in this place.

I realize that in the midst of moving, grieving leaving Los Angeles, arriving in Fresno, leaving my friends, church community and job...I have arrived. I have arrived in the place of knowing how blessed I am to be in this City full of possibilities at every corner. To live with a family that completely and utterly loves me and supports me in what I am doing (and who's kids are learning to love me too!).

Blessed because as I scroll through pictures of folks coming back from mission trips and seeing how their hearts are still in Honduras, South Los Angeles, and the like, I had a thought where, I am living in my own 'Honduras' or 'South Los Angeles'. 'Cause Fresno captured me when I visited in 2008, and was recaptured last summer, and now instead of wishing that I was back in Fresno, I actually live here!

I get to be a part of this crazy thing called 'living incarnationally'. Living in the neighborhood and all that entails-- learning the names, falling in love with the faces, being a part of after school programs, a new church, building up neighborhood leaders, inspiring change in those around me...the possibilities are endless!

Tonight I am completely and utterly grateful. Grateful that it doesn't end after 6 weeks, that although this wasn't the road I would have chosen for myself, God knew what he was doing and has delivered me here to bring him praise.

Amen.