I woke up in Thailand

This morning I woke up in Thailand.

When I was a little girl, I told my mom I was going to visit Germany someday.  I had a passion for Germany because my grandma moved to America from there when she was 17.  I had to get there.  When I was 19, I spent 3 months in Heidelberg, Germany with a friend from college who lived there.

When I was an adolescent growing up in Montana and traveling very little, I told my mom I was going to live in Oregon someday.  I'd never been there.  I just knew I wanted to.  I ended up going to college in Portland, Oregon and living there for almost 13 years.

Thirteen years ago I had a desire to visit Thailand.  It felt out of the blue.  I tried to get here a couple times and it fell through.  But just as when I was a child and knew I had to get to Germany and was going to get to Oregon, I knew that Thailand was in my future.  When Jill asked last year if I would come with her to Chiangmai, I couldn't believe it was happening.  I made it to Thailand.  I am equally in awe to be in this beautiful country one more time.  It holds a feeling of belonging for me, similar to my feeling in Portland, Oregon.

Our 26 hours of travel to Chiangmai went incredibly smooth.  We had an 8 hour layover in China and the airline got us a free hotel and breakfast!  We were all pleasantly surprised to get a shower and a soft bed for a few hours after our 15 hour flight from LA.  The warmth of Chiangmai welcomed us at 5:30 pm.  We had dinner, found our home away from home and hit the hay by 9:30.  We all slept through the night and woke up feeling rested and ready to start our adventures.

Today was a day of adjusting, getting groceries and odds and ends and of course a $5 massage for an hour.  :)  I don't want to take a moment of this journey for granted.  Several times throughout the day I felt like I could burst into tears of joy just for the privilege of being here.

Our dreams, our desires, our longings . . . I don't think they're simply "out of the blue" anymore.  I have started putting weight on the things I'm drawn to.  And it is awe inspiring when those beautiful dreams become reality.  Thailand is beautiful for me in more ways than a million.

Two friends in separate states gave me this verse before I left.  I'm owning it.  :)
"I will always show you where to go.  I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones.  You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry."  Isaiah 58:11

I know I will be pouring out a lot while I am here in Thailand, but I anticipate God doing as much or more in me than I will do in pouring out.  My theme song for the trip is "No Longer Slaves" by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser.  The lines that jumped out at me this morning are:
"You split the sea so I can walk right through it.
My fears are drowned in perfect love.
You rescue me and I will stand and sing
I am a child of God."

Part of becoming a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry is having my fears drown in perfect love.  I have a sense that I will feel that happen for me in new ways in the next 5 weeks.

Thanks for being my friends who encourage and witness the beautiful transformation of a life with lots of dry and barren places becoming a well watered garden.  I stand in awe of the transforming power of Love.
Goodnight from Thailand . . . and may your dreams come true.