long awaited...

So, this weekend was very busy, yet in a good way....two movies watched-P&P ( which I had already seen..but it was wonderful, yet again!) and then on Saturday I saw Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe...
I know many people that havent seen it yet, and wouldnt want me to ruin it-so all I will say is I wanted to cry the whole time....mostly because it was so beautiful, and because it was as if my OWN childhood imagination had come alive. Wonderful.

Other highlights of the weekend was finishing up some christmas shopping...still more to go, but I am feeling more "on top of things" than I did last week....I also had some lovely chats with Tabitha and Sam...did my heart some serious good :-)

OK, so I know i havent been really "indepth" as of late-thats mostly because I've been in some sort of a "funk"...a spiritual one of sorts...but not really...I dont even know how to discribe it, but the results were a not-so-wordy-Abbey...and for that I'm sorry! hehe.
However, in the past day or so I've been overrun with things I want to post about-which is fun, but also a bit overwhelming. The general topic is that on Tuesday, I will have been in the States for ONE WHOLE YEAR ( minus a trip to italy for ten days..) but I've "lived" here that whole time..and that's really the point of this little milestone. I'd sort of dreaded the one year mark for a couple of reasons...but mostly just one and in the past few days I realize it was "no longer a problem" anymore which was sort of an amazing miracle and I will now share it with you! :-)

( oh, and I just "talked this out on the phone" with Emma so I think it will now be a bit more clear that it would have been if it had just come STRAIGHT from my brain-which is lucky for you! heehe)

We must go all the way back to 2003 to begin this little account, it was at Cutting Edge Design Weekend and I was having a really awesome prayer time. God was really putting intercessory prayer on my heart in an even bigger way, and the first reactions I had were, sad to say, a bit on the scared side...and my Flesh immediately cried out in fear....my prayer that day was "Oh lord, of course, I will pray for your people...but please, oh please do not forget me! Please dont let "life pass me by" while I pray for the lives of others!!"
I was actually afraid of this, I felt like God was going to drop me in a "boring place" and i would rot there....yes, i know....silly right, because any Christian should know...life is NEVER boring with God...but, I just wanted to set that fear up for you so you'd know the background.

Anyway, jumping forward to 2004...I was leaving New Zealand ( my grand adventure) and I was going back to Texas ( boring place) and while i KNEW it was where God wanted me to be, I was once again afraid...I was afraid of a boring life once again...
On my last Sunday in New Zealand ( and consequently at Elim) I went up and was prayed for...as is the tradition of all students that leave the church to go off into the un-dunedin world after graduation or whatever....the day when by in a whirlwind but at the Dunedin Airport when I had said my goodbyes to Kristy and Bing I waited to board the aircraft and I wrote down the words that people spoke during that prayer time....many of them were re-enforcements of what I already knew I was about to face...I KNEW what I was going home to, and these words helped me greatly...but there was one that I felt was just "totally wrong" but I wrote it down anyway:
"I see you on a big highway traveling...the concrete is the firm foundation you have in Christ, but you will definitely be traveling a LOT..and very soon!"

Ah-HA! I thought, I know for a FACT I will be living in Texas for a least a few years....so this word is totally wrong.
I got on that plane and took off on a roller-coaster ride of sorts....I can still remember vividly those first few weeks back in the states. Some of the hardest things I've ever faced, were faced RIGHT AWAY...no time to settle, no time to get situated, to get my footing back...and in the midst of "life" I forgot about that "totally wrong" word that I had gotten back in Dunedin.

Until yesterday...

I was praying about this past year, and all that God has brought me through...its truly amazing really. And something I plan to continue talking about in upcoming posts...but as I was praying that word came back to me. And as PLAIN as DAY...I finally understood what it meant!
This year I have travelled more than I have in my whole life. I've travelled thousands of miles in one day...I've gone all over the world in an instant. For, I am truly learning the power of the Lord. Even after a year I feel close to many dear friends, as though I saw them yesterday...and how is this possible?! The answer: i can honestly say I battle with my friends. I stand with them in fights and battles...I rejoice with their victories...I cry with their struggles. God has taught me that you really CAN be with someone through prayer! Yes, the concrete of my highway is the Lord...He is my very means of transportation. And while, I feel sure that one day I will see these dear ones again...I am also actually able to Rest in the fact that my lot is to pray for them here...here in my ( what turns out to be...NOT) "boring place"...and finally....I am ok with that. Finally, I no longer fight against what I have been called to do. The Lord is faithful, and while I know my feathers will be rubbed the wrong way in the future...for that is the way of the Human...hehe....today, today, I have seen, I have seen the faithfulness of my Father-He has changed my thinking about "time" and "space" forever....and THAT is one of the things I am most thankful for when looking back on 365 days in Nacogdoches Texas...

More to come...