Dawning Day

Christian, the morn breaks sweetly o'er thee,
And all the midnight shadows flee;
Tinged are the distant skies with glory,
A beacon light hangs out for thee.
Arise! arise! the light breaks o'er thee,
Bright from thy everlasting home;
Soon shalt thou reach thy goal of glory,
Soon shalt thou share thy Saviour's throne.
Lift up thy head; the day breaks o'er thee;
Bright is the promised shining way!
Light from heav'n is streaming for thee;
Lo! 'tis the dawn of perfect day.
Rejoice! rejoice! in hope of glory,
Counting all else but vanity:
Precious this truth; O seek and hold it,
And send it forth that all may see.

As the golden sun breaks the horizon, heralding the beginning of a new day, it is a constant reminder that the coming of dawn brings new grace and mercy. Yet with the gifts of grace and mercy there are situations which will pull upon our reserves of grace and mercy. With the dawning of a new day there are new opportunities and corresponding challenges. Though the night of trials and tests may come we rest assured in the knowledge that morning will bring the glorious rays of the rising sun. I guess I have been reflecting on all of that, because today I will have completed 28 incredible years of life.

Realization hit me today that in two years I will be the big 3-0, and though there have been moments of nervous sweating and anxiety, I have focused on this thought,

the dawning day.

The first week of August I packed up all of the belongings I have collected over the four and a half years I have been serving in the Roca Blanca Mission Base. And on August 9th at 4:30am I drove off the Roca Blanca Mission base headed for the US. It was by far one of the saddest moments I have faced in a long while. During that last week, I was coming back with a teen mission trip from their free day, and I looked out the window over the terrain I had come to cherish.

I saw the gentle rolling mountains that over look the billowing sea,

the small farms and ranches that dot the coastal plain,

villages tucked away in the heart of the Sierra Madre mountains,

and the many beautiful brown faces that have welcomed me into heart and home.

I sat amongst a group of strangers on the verge of tears as it hit me!! This was the last time for an uncertain amount of time that I would be driving along that road, it was my last day in the place I had called home for almost five years. I had sweat and toiled, bleed and cried, served and given myself to this wonderful place called Mexico for one thousand six hundred forty two days and never regretted a minute of it. Well there was that one time waiting in line in the bank for 3.5 hours, that I did regret for a half second, but besides that, I have never regretted a minute of being in Mexico.

As the dawning of my day is arising I set my face towards new things and healing past hurts. I am taking a furlough for the next couple of months to set out in search of my maternal side of the the family and quite possibly my biological father. I have not seen or heard from my mother's side of the family in over 17 years and have never met my biological father. After my mother's death we lost contact. It was not until this past April that I realized my dad had my uncle and grandmother's old addresses and phone numbers. So in the next couple of months I plan on making contact if possible and seeing them in Korea. If not, I will fly to Korea and spend a few weeks there looking for my family, and consequently the answers to so many things I have not be courageous enough to face.

So during this time if you could keep me in your prayers as I embark upon this journey, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here are some prayer points:

-Finances to be able to go: finding a job quickly to be able to raise the finances to be able to go as soon as possible

-Learning Korean (I don't speak harldy any at all, I have not spoken Korean since I was a very small child)

-Legal Issues: visas & getting new birth certificate in Korea (mine was destroyed in a fire in our home several years ago)

-Divine connections and appointments: translator (to help me communicate with family once I locate them), place to stay, local church to attend during my time there

-Finding my family

-Grandmother: that my Korean Grandmother would still be alive (she is the only one I was really close to of all of my family)

-Directon for the future

To say that I am excited, would be a gross understatement. You might even ask if I am scared, and I would tell you, "Yup, scared spitless..." But I know that God is the orchestrator of all things and situations. I have been wanting to do this for a long time but because of fear have not been ready to. I even thought well let me get married first and then I will go, at least that way I have a husband to hide behind. But I now know that is not the way that I am going to have to do this. And one scripture has given me a ginormous amount of peace, "...and we know that all things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose."

Yet peace, my heart! and hush, my tongue!
Be calm my troubled breast!
Each passing hour prepares thee more
For everlasting rest.
Thou knowest well, the time thy God
Appoints for thee is best.
The morning star already shines;
The glow is in the east.

The dawning day comes!