Not Recovering.....

I’ve been a bit of a mess since we got home from Uganda. 

 Ok…maybe a super big mess.  Call it jet lag, call it culture shock, call it hormones..…I honestly don’t care what you call it, and I don’t  think it’s any one of those things.

  I think I’ve had my bell rung

 (when someone takes a hard hit and is stunned for a bit.)

  I didn’t take a hit to the head, but I took a hit in the heart and my bell has been rung and now I can’t un-ring that bell and I can’t seem to get the ringing in my heart to quiet down.

I was asking the Lord for help.  Help me to know what to do with all this….

I’m not adjusting, I’m not getting back to “normal”…I don’t know what “normal” is anymore.

I feel like my whole life has changed and nothing has changed at all.

This morning I was reading John 21, with all this on my heart.

After Jesus had spent over 3 years with His disciples, and their lives were forever changed, they didn’t quite know what to do with themselves, so they did what knew before their world was turned upside down…they went back to fishing. 

John 21:3English Standard Version (ESV)

³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Jesus showed up right where they were and he told them what to do.  He told them to put their nets in on the other side, this made no sense but they did it anyway.  He had done this before when they were fishing and things weren’t going well, he told them to throw their nets back in deeper water after a long night of no success.  They did what He said both times, and He provided abundantly all they needed for the next part of their journey with Him.

⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

We often want to do things that make us look smart and accomplished and spiritual and wise.  Jesus just wants us to listen to Him, follow Him, and do the next thing He tells us.

Love Him!  Love His peeps.

Even when Peter jumped in the water to get to Jesus faster, Jesus sent him back to bring to Him what He had abundantly provided so Jesus could add it to what He was already cooking up for Him.

⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

 We are back to doing what we know, and I know Jesus has some stuff cooking for us right now, and when He gives us the next thing, even if it makes no sense, I pray we jump in and swim like our very lives depended on it.

 

I don’t want to miss anything God has for us.

  I know he has so much for us here at home and in Uganda.

                 I love these beautiful people!