REDEFINING HOME

Before I left for Gainesville, I had never been away from my family or home for more than a week. My family are some of my best friends and I am comfortable at home. There was really no reason to leave. I can tell you that we miss home but the choice to obey God and leave is probably the best decision I could have made. I have only been here two weeks and I have grown so much in my identity and intimacy with the Lord. 

Don’t get me wrong, it has been far from easy or comfortable. But I am learning you grow the most through the discomfort you walk through. I thought I would give a glimpse of what the Lord has been teaching me this past week. Here, We are staying on Adventures in Missions campus, and living in tents in the woods currently, but in the past week we have moved locations about 5 times. 

What that looked like for us was constantly uprooting where we had just gotten comfortable and starting all over again. I will give you a schedule of what that looked like. We had been living in cohorts (1/2 the squad) for almost two weeks, it was supposed to storm last weekend so we all quickly moved out sleeping stuff inside and had a squad sleepover! The next morning we moved our stuff back into our tents outside. Come Monday night we found out we got to combine our squad and finally be one big happy family! But that also meant we had to move ALL OUR STUFF up the hill to a new combined campsite. Instead of taking down our tents we all hauled them up the hill, so we didn’t have to put them up again. We got comfy there and Tuesday night we found out the hurricane was coming our way so we had to pack up our tents and move inside again for the next few days. Friday we moved back to our campsite and our happy little tent homes. 

Needless to say, it’s been quite the week. I had just gotten adjusted to being away from home, and every time i got comfy we moved again. Through all the moving, the Lord started redefining what home looks like. It’s not always four walls, I could move a thousand times and the Lord would always be my home and safe place. All of this is temporary. As I continued moving, Jesus moved with me.  Although my location changed he stayed the same, whether I was sleeping on the floor or in my tent, he was there. 

Right now, home looks like spending time with God, my Squadmates laughter and dance moves, facetime with my family, deep chats with my lovely team, uncertainty,  bug bites and so much more. I am more than okay with that.

FUN ANNOUNCEMENT: My squad and I are headed to Louisiana for a week in October. We will be partnering with Samaritans purse to help with hurricane relief and do ministry. We are SO EXCITED! Prayers for safety and health would be so appreciated! 

much love, 

DELANEY