It's already NOVEMBER!?! Are you kidding me!?!

Is it REALLY already NOVEMBER!?!

This time has FLOWN by so far. Fall has finally arrived here (it’s been abnormally hot for this time of year), but now the weather is cooler, leaves are changing, and life seems to be “slowing” down in a since (you can tell people are preparing for the winter). Seeing the changing of the leaves and the slower pace of life it made me start thinking as I was making my way to class the other day, about how much things have changed in the past 2 months of me living here. I was thinking about how the scriptures talk about the changing of the seasons and of life. There’s a time for everything: a time to be born and a time to die, a time for joy and a time for weeping, there’s a time for war and a time for peace…makes me want to sing “TURN, TURN, TURN”. I’ve been dwelling a lot since then about how I have changed in the past two months.
I mean the obvious change is that I’m not in the U.S. anymore! I spend my Saturday mornings having breakfast with a family of 7 from New York and 8 Roma kids (I LOVE Saturdays!), I hang my clothes out to dry, I've aquired a 5-year old Bosnian momak (boyfriend), I don’t drive anymore, I have to rely on other people for a lot of things, instead of churches on every corner there are mosque, I haven’t had a glass of sweet tea in almost THREE months! I sleep with a window opened instead of a ceiling fan, and I don’t go GET coffee anymore, I go FOR a coffee visit (for at least 2 hours).
More seriously though... I’ve changed a lot in what it means to daily walk with Jesus, to depend on Him in a way I’ve never had to before, I’ve learned more about what spiritual warfare and oppression looks like and I’ve seen it first-hand, I’ve been humbled (consistently) by the changing power of the Gospel in the life of a 15 year old boy (who’s had a life I can never even begin to imagine), I’ve learned more about dying to self and serving others, and I’ve seen more of the beauty of what it means to rest and abide in Christ.

Just as there is a time for the dying of the leaves sometimes comes a time in each of us as believers to “die” to self. And just like the leaves form again in the spring, when we “die” we are able to know more of the Life we have in Christ.
I’ll be honest, I’ve done a lot of “dying” these past two months. There’s been some hard times where I just clang to the promise that Christ is my strength, HE is a tower of salvation, HE is my refuge. Change has not been bad these past two months, but it’s been hard at times. It’s been hard to realize things about myself, about the world, about life that I was “blind” to or simply didn’t want to notice. The beauty of it though is just like the leaves are falling now outside, I know without a doubt they will grow back in the Spring. Even though I have had some hard times these past two months it’s been things that have caused me to “die” to self, to shed some “leaves” so to speak, and I know that without a doubt new “leaves” will grow, but this time they will be replaced characteristics that only come from my sweet Savior.

“ He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot