This past week has been one of the most bittersweet of my entire life.
Here's why:
It has been such a challenging summer. There have been many evenings that all I wanted to do was drive back to Columbia, back to Ash Grove, back to Missouri. Something about "home" just sounded comforting. Easy, really.
At the end of it all though, I wouldn't change a single thing. I have been pushed in ways I never would have been without this experience. I have been challenged. I have been tested. Most of all, I have met God this summer. I knew Him before, but all of this time has made it especially special. So with all of this mind, I have to just reiterate myself: I wouldn't change a single thing. I wouldn't change a thing because I know that He has been working. I know that He has been, and still is, shaping me into a stronger, more faithful woman.
I have been incredibly sad to leave some of the friends I have made this summer. My project group, my coworkers, other fellow LTers... God truly blessed me with a pretty awesome community in Estes Park. I never would have imagined myself feeling this way about people I have knew for such a short time, but I will really miss all of them. I am pretty sad about it, but I am comforted because I know that I will have some great memories to hold onto until we meet again.
So it's bittersweet because it's sad, but goodness, I have so much to look forward to. There are so many great things planned for this fall semester. I just know it. I am excited to start my new job. I am excited to be back and fully invested in the church that I really found God in. I am excited for fall outreach. I am excited for my classes. I am really excited to see how God moves through our church, through our community group, and through my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ this fall. I'm just excited, alright? Haha. I know that being back in Columbia wont mean that I'm free of challenges. I think that's okay. I hope after this summer, that it will be easier to remember that we aren't put through trials for nothing. He can use anything for good.
Being back in Columbia is so many things. It's comforting, it's familiar, it's warm, it's good. So far, it's everything I wanted it to be, but nothing will ever be quite the same as the summer that changed my life in Estes Park, Colorado.
And until we meet again, Colorado, I'll hold onto these:
