Safe arrival in Malysia...so now what?

Who would have thought we would be so close to the wire for our departure? The last few days are a bit of a blur, but God's mercy is evident even in the fact that all we needed to get done was done exactly at the time we needed to head out to the airport, 3 a.m. on Sunday, July 29th. Perhaps not the relaxed atmosphere I would have chosen, but I am thankful that we made it! Many thanks for the helpful hands, the notes, calls, visits, meals, prayers, well wishes, hugs, and yes, tears, that are evidence of the support and encouragement of so many who stand behind us and with us, sad to see us go, yet excited for the next step God leads us on in our journey.

The trip itself was smooth and uneventful, our luggage some of the first off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, intact and all accounted for, all 203 pounds of it. We're so thankful to be staying with friends who are putting us up until we can find a living space of our own, and playing "aunt and uncle" with their four children while we invade their space. So now what?

We can now identify with some of the feelings of our daughter, Jen, knowing we are on the right track, yet a bit disoriented, not quite knowing some of the details to come--where we will live, how we will be spending our time, exactly how God's provision will square with the needs we don't even know we have yet. Tom's job at Sunway University starts in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime we have to figure out what it means to settle in. As we spent time in the park yesterday with our host family's children, I found myself thinking about my own weaknesses--the challenges of getting to know new people in a new place when my natural inclination as an introvert is to keep to myself and try to solve my own problems. That might work for a short-term visit, but it struck me anew that I'm here to stay for awhile without the usual friendships and supports--am I ready for this?

As usual, God's word was a comforting reminder that there's much more to this than my own weaknesses. In John 4:34, Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." He goes on to talk about harvests that we have to wait for, for which others have begun the work, but we participate in as they come to fruition. It reminded me that the real satisfaction of being here is not in finding the perfect apartment, or even figuring out exactly what my schedule will be. What will sustain me and give me satisfaction, a sense of "being full" will be participating in the work that God has set before us, in partnership with those who have gone before us. I need to be patient, knowing that the crop is still growing, yet being confident that he who brought us here will accomplish his purposes, beyond what we can ask or imagine. 

And so I continue to ask for your prayers. To help us be patient with things like jet lag, finding a place to live, understanding our place here, and most of all to remember to look to God, not just ourselves, for making decisions and moving forward in the plans he has for us.