Where I'm At: Joanna

Dear Bloom! sisters,

As I sat down to write this post, I looked back at what I wrote for my previous Where I'm At post and started smiling as I re-read it.  God has done so much since then and I'm so glad He has!  When I last wrote, it was October 2013 and my life had taken a much different turn than I had expected.  It was hard at first, seeing my dreams and plans die.  That summer I had been planning to continue doing missionwork in the same city in Taiwan when God changed my course and sent me to a new city instead.  It turns out, of course, that He always knows best.

Right now I have so much joy in my heart as I write this because God is sending me back to that second city again - next month!  You see, I spent six months in City One and one year in City Two.  Then I came stateside for a year, praying, healing, resting, traveling and even working on a Christian movie.  In May, I went back to Taiwan for a three week mission trip (you can read about that here!), not realizing that the God who called me there for 1.5 years before would call me back again.  But He did and I'm quite excited!

So here I am today, preparing to move back to City Two in Taiwan.  Sometimes you just never know how the Father will work in your life in something that seemed like a hard trial at first - like it did when I was transferred to City Two back in 2013.  Looking back now, it's easier to see what the Lord was doing and I'm very grateful He did what He did!

I'm looking forward to holding dusty hands as we walk to the river, sharing Bible stories with kids who've never heard them, teaching phonetics to orphans, singing in Chinese at church, practicing English sentences with my students, laughing with my teammates, using chopsticks, and once again, stumbling over the tonal language of the island. 

In the meantime, what's life look like for me right now?  Lots of shopping, planning, scouting for classroom items and things I can use in the orphanages and villages, going on adventures with family and friends, and yes, fighting some ongoing health issues too.  Through the easy and the hard, the fun and the pain, I lean on my Jesus and trust Him to give me all that I need in this next month and the ones to come - for His joy, grace, mercy, endurance, and love and everything else I need.  He's so faithful.

As I'm preparing to move across the globe again, I'm singing this song.  Won't you join me?

In Christ's love,

Joanna

P.S.  Yep, this means that my Tales from Taiwan will soon start up again!